


Hunger

by Esselle



Series: Hunger [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: A/B/O-lite, Accidental Plot, Alternate Universe - Medieval, Animal Instincts, Consensual Sex, Dark Fairy Tale Elements, Dirty Talk, Doggy Style, Dom/sub Undertones, Emotional Sex, Frottage, M/M, Masturbation, No Non-con/No Dub-con, Omega Verse, Porn With Plot, Red Riding Hood Elements, Rough Sex, Scent Kink, Shameless Smut, Size Kink, Voyeurism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-14
Updated: 2016-06-11
Packaged: 2018-06-08 10:02:42
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 32,669
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6850228
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Esselle/pseuds/Esselle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>'This was how Shouyou, prince of the kingdom on the hill, ended up sitting on the wooden floor in front of the fire, roasting all the different kinds of meats in the crackling flames to eat. When he was done, he flopped over backwards, sprawling over the floor.</p><p>Kageyama was watching him again. Shouyou rolled lazily onto his stomach and rested his head on his arm, smiling at him. </p><p>“That was good,” he said. The food had been delicious. Watching Kageyama eat had been more so; the way his throat worked to swallow as he drank down the creamy, white milk, his white teeth as they sank into the succulent, tender meat, the little groans and sighs of pleasure he made as he tasted it. It had all made Shouyou so very, very hungry for more.'</p><p>--</p><p><em>There was a kingdom on a hill, and a prince with hair of red,</em><br/><em> And a forest at its borders where the prince one dark night fled.   </em>  </p><p>  <em>In the forest was a path, but off it he did stray,</em><br/><em>To a cabin, and a Wolf, and with him the Lamb did lay.</em></p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> - I'm borrowing some elements from the Alpha/Beta/Omega verse here, the main things being:
> 
>   * Alpha/Omega dynamics
>   * heat cycles
>   * self-lubrication (sometimes I just don't wanna figure out the lube situation)
> 

> 
> \- I imagine KageHina's heights in this story to be exaggerated. They're both around their early 20s, but Hinata is still at or a little under 5' 4", while Kageyama is about... 6' 7".  ~~Size kink? _Me?_~~
> 
> \- Endless gratitude to [Ellessey](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Ellessey/pseuds/Ellessey/works) for bestowing her editing prowess upon this fic. It would not have happened without her, thanks to my breaking down over it and wanting to scrap the whole thing multiple times (including like, just this past Wednesday) - she saw me through <3

Once upon a time, in a bright and prosperous little kingdom on a sun-soaked hill, a young king and queen were graced with the birth of a tiny baby boy who shone like a precious jewel. He was pink-cheeked and rosy, with soft tufts of hair so red it was like a steady burning candle. His smile, when finally it arrived, was just like the sun that slipped its way through the baby’s high windows to caress his face in the early mornings.

They named the prince Shouyou.

The years passed and Shouyou grew, though only so much. The boy remained small and happy and was marveled at by everyone—the high-ranking members of the nobility, the servants of the castle, and the kingdom at large. And as he grew older, with all eyes watching him, it became apparent that the kingdom had been doubly blessed.

As he left childhood behind, it was discovered that the little prince was a Lamb. It was hardly surprising—Lambs were known for their innate charm and charisma, their way with people, and their ability to captivate the attention of any room they moved through. They were incredibly rare and exceptionally valuable throughout the realm, commonly kept as courtesans, or even ruling consorts to sitting monarchs if they were of high enough breeding. A Lamb of royal blood like Shouyou was a prized and precious thing.

His father planned for him to marry well, to curry favor and riches, preferring to wait and choose a proper intended for the prince.

The queen, however, wanted to wait until he found something worth more than all of that, though it was not her kingdom or her place to say. But on quiet afternoons, she would play with her beloved son in the green courtyards outside, telling him stories of other children like himself who had had great adventures, and seen many things, and married for love instead of prospects.

One day, when he was just old enough to understand such things, the prince told her, “I’ll run away, if anyone tries to force me.” ‘Anyone’ meant his father.

“And where will you go?” the queen asked him, hiding her smile. “What would you do without your soft pillows and rich food and me to take care of you?”

“I’ll hide in the forest,” Shouyou had said to her, his round cheeks quivering with the force of his adamancy.

“Ah, the forest,” his mother said, scooping the tiny Lamb into her arms. “The forest is both a safe place and a dangerous one. It is filled with many things, some good, some bad, and some that may be a little of both. But you must be wise, and never stray from the path men have made while you walk among the trees.”

“Why?” Shouyou asked, curiously.

“Because you know not what you will find, once you leave it,” she warned. “You may get lost forever—or run into a witch—or be eaten by a _wolf!”_ And she pounced on him to tickle him mercilessly, laughing at the way he shrieked as though he were being devoured alive.

She had used ‘wolf’ as the common term for the animal, but there was a separate type of creature Shouyou would soon come to learn about, those people called Wolves, who walked with ordinary folk like lions among sheep—strong, powerful men and women, who could force others to bend to their whims by words and will alone.

Wolves and Lambs were as to one another like the shades of black and white, distinct, yet two halves of a whole, two opposite ends of the same spectrum. Though they could love anyone, relationships between the two often burned hottest, twined strongest. Once a Wolf and a Lamb had chosen one another, once the wild predator had Marked the willing prey as its own, it was said nothing could ever come between them again.

As word of the prince’s nature began to spread far and wide, the kingdom began to receive envoys from other regions who came bearing gifts, proposals of alliance and trade, and of course, many, many watchful Wolves, on the prowl once they caught his scent.

While he was still young, the king and queen kept him sequestered away from curious outside eyes, but as he came closer and closer to the age to be wed, they allowed him to meet with the long and steady line of royals and nobles who visited, asking for his hand in marriage.

He showed interest in none of them, be they ordinary or Wolf. Whether friendly and warm, or cunning and clever, or haughty and powerful, not one stood out, caught his eye or attention. Several years passed, and the boy grew into a young man—yet he never once showed the slightest hint of attraction toward anyone. So the king and queen watched, and waited.

And then, one day, came a messenger that changed everything. A nearby kingdom that had yet to make contact suddenly began to overwhelm them with gifts. Displays of power and wealth: exotic foods and drink, enormous snow white elephants, golden eggs laid by golden geese—each day brought a new spectacle, more lavish and opulent than the last.

It carried on until the foreign king himself came—and there in the throne room, before all watching, he bent his knee and proposed to the young prince.

Shouyou knew of the king well. He was a Wolf, an unusually overconfident and intimidating one, sat at the helm of a prestigious and prosperous kingdom that had territory and wealth to spare. He kept many other husbands, wives, and courtesans. The king did not need one more, but he was vain and proud, eager to show off his many possessions, be they toys or people—they were one and the same to him.

The way he looked at Shouyou was calculating and interested—a clinical sort of romance, an assessment of Shouyou as though he were a fine golden statue rather than breathing and alive. A Lamb would be a fine addition to the king’s collection, no doubt, to be coddled and displayed until he lost interest in Shouyou. Shouyou opened his mouth to say no.

“We accept your proposal for the hand of our son, his highness,” said Shouyou’s father.

Shouyou’s eyes flew wide. In shock, he turned to look at his parents—but his father’s attention was not on him, and his mother’s eyes were downcast.

“I am very pleased,” said the visiting king. “I should like to hold the wedding ceremony at my own palace. In a year’s time.”

“A fine idea,” said Shouyou’s father.

His acquisition secured, the other king hardly glanced at Shouyou as he rose and took his leave, bringing all his court with him. When they had all left and the room was empty, Shouyou stood, staring wordlessly at his parents. His father looked at his mother, nodding in approval.

“An excellent match,” he said. “I was wondering when his patience would wear through. This will bring great benefits to our kingdom and people.”

“And do you feel it will benefit our son?” the queen asked quietly.

“Shouyou has been aware of his duty his entire life,” the king said, and he sounded proud.

Shouyou thought if he opened his mouth, he may never be able to stop the torrent of anger and frustration churning within him. So he kept silent. He didn’t want to seem selfish.

But that night, in his room, a terrible sorrow gripped him and would not let go. He did not want to do this—he could not.

And so, just before dawn, while everyone around him slept, Shouyou fled the castle, bringing nothing with him but one satchel filled with food, and the hooded scarlet cloak on his back.

He headed south, into the country—toward the forest, where he had never set foot before.  

*

The woods pressed in around Shouyou, thick, gnarled tree branches blotting out the sky, until he began to feel as though he’d forgotten what it looked like in the first place. He kept on, just wanting to get far enough in, put enough distance between himself and the kingdom and those who would pursue him so he could think, could breathe.

But soon, he couldn’t remember how far he’d walked, or how long he had traveled. It happened gradually, and yet all at once, that he realized he could barely see the path in front of him, or maybe he was no longer on it at all.

It was getting dark, much darker than it had been during the day. He couldn’t see the moon above.

The sound of a branch snapping behind him made him jump. There were noises coming from all around him, now—the noises of creatures, moving about where he could not see, in the blackness. And if he looked into it, he could see the flashes of their eyes.

He turned and stumbled away, breathing fast, blood cold in his veins. But no matter which way he turned, pushing his way under the branches, the darkness around him only grew, the noises got louder, the eyes watching him closer. Panting, he crashed through the trees—and something howled behind him, long and chilling, a warning in the night.

Shouyou froze. He couldn’t tell where it had come from or how close it was—but it _was_ near, that much he knew. Perhaps, if he stood still—maybe it would lose interest—

A low snarl began to build, horrifically close to him. Without looking, without thinking, he began to run, flat out.

He had never known fear, in his young life. But now, as he bolted through the trees, it consumed him.

His breathing was harsh and ragged, his muscles and lungs burned with effort, and he knew the beast must be nearly on top of him. He should never have come to the forest. He should never have strayed from the path. Just as he felt he could run no longer, he saw something through the trees—a gleam of light, an opening in the woods that surrounded him. Had he made it through the forest? That was impossible.

He burst through the trees and into a clearing, where a sloping grassy hill led down to a cabin nestled at the foot of it. There was smoke floating out of the chimney, and the gleam of light he’d seen must have been the fire inside. Someone was home.

“Help!” he yelled, as he ran toward the cabin. He didn’t dare look over his shoulder, but he could hear the panting of the animal behind him, the snapping of its teeth. “Open the door!”

With a growl, the creature hunting him threw itself forward, hitting him around his knees and bringing him down to the ground. He rolled over and was faced with it at last.

It was a massive shaggy-coated wolf, yellow eyes burning, long, sharp teeth bared into a wicked snarl. It was nearly as large as he was, but he raised his hands not to hide but to defend himself, though he knew it was useless. It opened its mouth and Shouyou nearly began to scream.

_“GREY!”_

The shout rang out through the night. The voice was booming, deep, commanding. The wolf froze.

“You, whoever you are,” the voice said sharply, “move away.”

Baffled, Shouyou lay there, still terrified. Was he talking to the wolf?

“I mean you, lying on the ground!”

Apparently not. Still not taking his eyes from the wolf, Shouyou slid out from under it, backwards on his elbows. By some miracle, the wolf didn’t attack, just watched him as he went. He stood up very slowly and finally turned to face what he supposed was his rescuer.

It was a man, obviously. He stood halfway between Shouyou and the cabin. Silhouetted against the light from his windows, Shouyou couldn’t make out much of his features in the night, aside from the fact that he was very tall and dark-haired. He was also wielding a crossbow, and to Shouyou’s shock, it was pointed straight at him.

“Who are you? Why did you come here?” asked the man.

“I’m—” Shouyou started to say, then paused. “My name is Hinata.” It was a nickname he’d had at the castle; it meant ‘sun’. “I was just passing through the woods, but I got lost.”

“Lost,” the man repeated. “You mean you left the path.”

“I—yes,” Shouyou said, feeling foolish. “It was an accident.”

“And how did a Lamb come to be _accidentally_ out in the middle of the woods at night?” the man questioned.

Shouyou stiffened. He looked back at the animal that had attacked him, then at the man. There was only one way he could have known what Shouyou was without even coming near him.

There was not one wolf in the clearing, but two.

The man moved forward, slowly, crossbow still trained on him. It wasn’t the weapon, or the cool night air, that made Shouyou shiver. He was small, and this man was huge, at least two meters tall, with broad shoulders to match. The muscles of his arms were clearly visible under his shirt. A coiled energy radiated off him even at a distance. He still couldn’t see the man’s face, but he could _feel_ eyes watching him, as though waiting for Shouyou to attempt to run.

He couldn’t have even if he wanted to. He couldn’t move.

“I asked you a question, little Lamb,” said the man, low and expectant.

“I told you,” Shouyou said, the words coming from him almost unbidden at the sound of that deep voice. He balled his hands into fists. “I got lost.”

Another long moment of silence stretched between them. Then the man snorted. “Lost, right. Nice one.” He lowered his crossbow and whistled. “Grey, come on.” The wolf trotted to his side immediately. “Well, good luck to you.”

Shouyou blinked. _What?_ He gaped as the man began to head back inside. “Wait!” he called out desperately, and the man turned. “Wait, I have nowhere to go!”

“Why are you telling me that?” asked the man. Shouyou gestured in the direction of the cabin. “You show up here out of the blue, rile up my pet enough that I’ve got to come save you, and now you want me to just let you inside?”

Shouyou thrust out his satchel, the contents still mostly uneaten. “I’ve got food.”

“...What kind of food?”

 _“Good_ food.”

A long moment of quiet passed. Then the man grunted. “I’ll be the judge of that.”

He turned his back again and Shouyou scrambled after him, in a hurry. The wolf flicked its ears agitatedly and he decided to stay a few steps behind. “Um… what should I call you?”

The man paused in front of his door, pushing it open. Warmth and light poured out of it—Shouyou couldn’t wait to be inside.

“Kageyama,” said the man.

“Okay!” Shouyou said cheerfully.

“Don’t get too excited,” Kageyama grumbled. “As soon as the sun is up, you’re leaving.”

He let Shouyou in first and followed after him. The cabin was small, but lived in. There was a warm fire going in the hearth; a small table with only one chair (in fact, there was only one chair in the whole room) on which sat a mug half full of some amber liquid and a plate of brown sausages; a little sofa sat in the other corner, a bit threadbare but with squashy cushions, and fairly covered in what must be wolf fur. There was a second floor, too, with a small flight of stairs leading up to it, and that must be where the man slept, Shouyou supposed.

Shouyou flinched away as the grey wolf padded around him, heading for the sofa.

“She won’t do anything now,” said the man behind him. “Nobody ever comes out here, so surprises like you make her nervous.”

Shouyou turned around at the sound of his voice as the man shut the door, and properly saw him for the first time in the light from the fire.

He looked, if it was possible, even taller now that they were inside. His hair wasn’t just dark, it was black as ink, fine, shiny strands reflecting the firelight. And he was…

Shouyou tried, very hard, not to let his stare linger too long. But it was difficult when, oh, the stranger was so handsome.

Kageyama, on the other hand, seemed to have no problem with staring. He raked his dark blue eyes over Shouyou’s body, up, down, and back up again, before prowling closer, beginning to circle him. Shouyou tried to turn with him, to keep him in view, but at a soft command to “Stay still,” he froze in place.

Shouyou stood, stunned, as Kageyama reached for the clasp of the red cloak around his neck, snapping it open, slowly sliding it off his shoulders until it fell away, pooling around Shouyou’s feet on the floor.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“Looking at you,” Kageyama informed him. Shouyou felt his face heat up.

_“Why?”_

“I’ve never seen one of you up close,” scoffed Kageyama, as though it should be obvious. He leaned in, very close, face near Shouyou’s neck, and Shouyou quivered like a reed in the wind.

“You don’t have to be afraid,” the man said, voice low in his ear.

“I’m _not_ afraid,” Shouyou muttered.

He should have been. Of course he should—he’d never been alone in a room with a Wolf before, there wasn’t a chance anybody in the castle would have ever allowed it. With good cause.

There were other reasons, aside from appearance and diplomacy, that Lambs were so highly sought by others, especially Wolves. But these were reasons Shouyou learned apart from his tutoring sessions, had discovered himself from servant gossip, or in the lingering looks some of his prospective admirers cast his way, and his body's own stirring desires as he got older.

Simply put, Lambs were said to be unparalleled when it came to sexual satisfaction—especially in pleasing Wolves, whose senses were heightened enough to feel and taste and smell the difference of their bodies.

His ability to resist submitting to a real Wolf would be next to nothing, compared to an ordinary person's. It was instinctual, the natural response of a cornered prey animal. A single command directed at him with the intent to overpower would leave him helpless and ready to be feasted on. And Wolves were hunters, notorious for their rabid appetites, their desire to possess, to devour. So he knew he should be afraid.

Except—he wasn’t afraid, though there was certainly _some_ feeling within him, one that was mounting and growing. Here was a Wolf out in the wild, who had no idea who he was, who wouldn’t coddle him because of his birthright. If he hadn’t been allowed near the wealthy, well-mannered court Wolves while at the palace, approaching an untamed one seemed all the more foolish—and dangerous.

It felt like laughing in the face of his betrothed, something he longed to do in person. It was exciting.

Whatever he had stumbled upon, here, felt like an opportunity waiting to happen.

“Strange,” he heard Kageyama say.

“What’s strange?”

“You are.”

Shouyou turned to face him again and found himself looking straight into alarmingly close dark eyes. He didn’t flinch away—instead, he glared. “I am not.”

“Your smell is,” Kageyama said, and there was that _feeling_ again. No one had ever gotten near enough to him to just smell him before, let alone a Wolf. “And you’re not really what I expected.”

“What’s that mean?”

“I don’t know.” The tall man shrugged. “People are always talking about how Lambs are so special, but from what I can tell, you’re just really short.”

Shouyou made a noise reminiscent of a kettle boiling over. “I’m not short! You’re just—freakishly tall!”

Kageyama’s eyebrows shot up. “Do you want to stay here tonight or…?”

“Freakish may have been a strong word,” Shouyou said quickly. “But you are honestly too large. So you can’t call me small!”

“Seriously?” Kageyama cocked his head at him. Cautiously, as though he was being mindful not to startle Shouyou, he reached out, putting his hands on Shouyou’s shoulders. They looked enormous there, and the dark-haired man smirked. Shouyou huffed.

“Are you trying to prove something? I already told you, you’re too—”

He broke off as Kageyama ran his hands down over Shouyou’s arms, fingers tracing the outline of muscles, brushing over his sharp elbows, tickling his forearms. Goosebumps sprung over Shouyou's skin in the wake of his touch, tiny shivers racing up his spine as Kageyama handled him. He lifted one of Shouyou’s hands to press their palms together. The size difference between their wrists and fingers was almost comical.

Shouyou barely noticed. His body was on _fire,_ heart trying to decide between desperate pounding and stopping completely. He didn’t move, he just stared up at Kageyama, hoping he kept going, kept touching.

“What am I?” Kageyama asked him.

“Too—too big,” Shouyou forced out, goading.

Kageyama narrowed his eyes and dropped his hands, and Shouyou felt a rush of disappointment—but then they were back, warm at his sides this time, stroking downward over his waist, and then his hips, large enough to close nearly completely around him. Kageyama had to sink down to the floor to reach that low, because Shouyou really was too small, he was so small compared to the other man.

Kageyama glanced up, hands still around Shouyou’s waist, and asked again, “What am _I?”_

 _Just right,_ Shouyou thought. His legs were shaking. He had never felt this affected by anyone in his entire life. 

But the sight of Kageyama on his knees, looking up at him with a stubborn expression as his dark hair fell into his eyes, made Shouyou's blood rush, was making him hard between his legs. 

Kageyama seemed to take his silence as an admission of defeat. He pulled up the red cloak from the ground to fold it in his arms, saying casually, as if he hadn’t just knocked all the breath from Shouyou’s lungs, “Let’s see what you have in your little basket, then.” He put the cloak over the back of the lone chair, cleared off some of the dishes on the table and looked at Shouyou, waiting expectantly.

Shouyou took several deep breaths to collect himself before coming to the other side of the table, dumping the satchel on it, untying the ends to let it fall open. He had a sense of satisfaction, seeing the way Kageyama’s eyes lit up. There were cured meats and cheeses, and even a small bottle of milk, which Kageyama snatched up instantly, even though it was no longer cold. Shouyou couldn’t help it, he laughed.

“What?” Kageyama asked.

“Nothing,” he said. “Just, a Wolf drinking milk—it’s kind of funny.”

Kageyama sat back, eyes on him in a way that made his skin tingle. “Would you rather I eat you up, instead?”

Shouyou stopped giggling, instantly. He stared at Kageyama, wide-eyed. Oh, he was definitely tingly now, with that sensation that he now knew wasn’t fear, but something else entirely. Something deeply pleasant, that made his stomach feel _hot._

The dark-haired man’s lips twitched. Shouyou gasped.

Kageyama was _teasing_ him.

“That’s not fair, and you know it,” he mumbled, red-faced.

“Maybe you shouldn’t run your mouth off, then,” Kageyama said. “Fill it with something else, instead.” As if to demonstrate, he skewered a sausage on a pair of tongs.

The high bred people of the castle ate delicately (and Shouyou was always getting scolded for laughing with his mouth full), but Kageyama didn’t seem to care much for that. He pulled the sausage off the tongs with his teeth, sliding it between lips that became shiny with juices from the meat, until he swiped his tongue over them, licking them clean.

 _Oh,_ Shouyou thought, and, _hmmm._ He wondered how serious Kageyama was—about eating him up. He had never done anything like that before, with another person. Besides it being expressly disallowed by his father, he’d never been interested enough in anyone to give it a second thought. But watching Kageyama lick grease off his fingers in long, wet stripes, sucking on each digit in turn before tearing into another piece of meat, he realized he wanted that, to let the Wolf tear into him, too.

“Do you need something?” Kageyama asked, having noticed him staring.

Shouyou jumped, and looked around the cabin quickly. “Why do you only have one chair?”

The look Kageyama directed at him could have frozen flames. “Because I don’t normally make a habit of inviting people to dinner.”

Shouyou wrinkled his nose. “Where am I supposed to sit?”

“I dunno,” Kageyama said, devouring another sausage as he started to inspect the rest of the food Shouyou had brought. “Figure it out.”

This was how Shouyou, prince of the kingdom on the hill, ended up sitting on the wooden floor in front of the fire, roasting all the different kinds of meats in the crackling flames until the juices dripped and sizzled onto the burning wood below. The entire cabin smelled of food, hearty and delicious. He blew on his dinner until it had cooled enough for him to slide the meat off the skewer with his fingers, to pop it into his mouth with a pleased hum. When he was done, he flopped over backwards, sprawling over the floor. He looked over at Kageyama.

Kageyama was watching him, in return. Shouyou rolled lazily onto his stomach and rested his head on his arm, smiling at him.

“That was good,” he said. The food had been delicious. Watching Kageyama eat had been more so; the way his throat worked to swallow as he drank down the creamy, white milk, his white teeth as they sunk into the succulent, tender meat, the little grunts and sighs of pleasure he made as he tasted it. It had all made Shouyou so very, very hungry for more.

“You eat like you haven’t seen food in weeks,” Kageyama informed him.

“You’re one to talk,” Shouyou shot back.

“Well, with your fancy clothes and everything,” the other man explained, “I just figured you were some kind of rich merchant or a noble or something. But your table manners are too shitty for that.”

Shouyou hiccuped, caught off guard, before anxiously laughing. “Uh, no. This was just a gift. It’s not like I’m a prince or anything like that, nope.”

“Obviously,” Kageyama said. He stretched and yawned. “I need to go to bed. And you should too, it’s going to be an early morning, for both of us.”

“Already?” Shouyou asked, sitting up on his knees.

“Do you have another suggestion?” Kageyama asked, bending down to put out the fire. Shouyou stared at the Wolf’s broad back, the way his long-sleeved shirt hugged his strong, well-built shoulders and arms, and made up his mind.

“Yes,” he said, reaching out and grabbing onto Kageyama’s sleeve. Kageyama looked at his hand, perplexed. Shouyou gripped tighter. “Kageyama, can you fuck me?”

Kageyama jerked away from him. _“What?”_

“It’s just—” Shouyou said hurriedly. “You’re a Wolf! So you wouldn’t… you wouldn’t _mind,_ right? So… can you?”

The dark-haired man raised an eyebrow. “Can I, or will I?”

Shouyou bit his lip. “Both.”

Kageyama watched him for a moment longer, before standing up and walking past him. Shouyou let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. He didn’t know if he felt more disappointed, or relieved that his immature request had been turned down. Mostly, he felt embarrassed.

A hand came down on the back of his neck, hard and unyielding, forcing his head low. He yelped.

“All that good food and the one thing I really wanted to eat was sitting in front of me, waiting for me to taste it,” came the slow, seductive rumble of Kageyama’s voice, just behind him, and any doubts Shouyou had remaining fled in seconds. He kept his head bowed. “Are you sure you want me to?”

_“Yes.”_

The hand on him pushed him further forward and he put out his hands, palms flat on the wood floor. Kageyama leaned low over him, voice hot against his ear.

“Then tonight, you’re mine,” he said, and the ache that had been throbbing in Shouyou’s belly and between his legs for some time took him over, and his arms shook as he moaned out loud.

Kageyama yanked his pants down, spreading him apart with his thumbs. “Are you wet here already?” he asked, sounding slightly amused.

“I—” Shouyou started to say, and broke off into a shocked gasp as he felt something warm and wet taste him in a long, savory line.

“Huh,” Kageyama said, seeming mildly surprised. “That’s _good._ Maybe it _is_ true what they say about Lamb meat.”

Shouyou’s face burned. “I’m not someone’s dinner!”

“No?” Kageyama asked.

“Kageyama, _don’t—”_

The other man licked at Shouyou again, and then pushed his tongue straight past the tight outer ring of muscle to rub it in a slow circle inside of him. Shouyou cried out, hips jerking first forward, then back, trying to get more, more of Kageyama inside him. Kageyama pinched the sensitive skin on the back of one of his thighs, a warning. “You don’t move unless I say you do.”

“I need _more,”_ Shouyou said.

“When I’m finished here,” Kageyama told him, ducking back down. He bit Shouyou, everywhere, some light on his thighs, some hard and sharp on the swell of his ass, all followed by warm, wet licks of his tongue and bruising pressure when he put his lips over the sore spots and sucked on them. It was torture—but with his mouth occupied, he had to use his fingers, and it wasn’t long before Shouyou felt one sliding inside him, spreading him just a little bit wider.

 _“Oh,”_ he said, glad he was already so incredibly slick.

“Am I your first?” Kageyama asked. When Shouyou nodded, he made a deep noise, a guttural sound of pleasure, and the trail of bites moved higher, teeth grazing over the small of Shouyou’s back. “Have you ever had anything inside you?”

“J-just—” Shouyou tried to say, and lost his voice as a second finger pushed inside him, joining the first to scissor him open.

“Tell me,” Kageyama ordered him.

“I’ve fingered myself,” Shouyou forced out.

Kageyama hummed, and dragged his tongue slowly up Shouyou’s spine, sliding over every groove. “Small little hands… that’s fine, then.”

“Would you be jealous?” Shouyou panted. Teeth closed at the top of his spine, over his neck, paralyzing him with a desire to give himself over to this man he’d only just met.

“I want to be the first one to split you apart.”

Shouyou moaned low and dark, his hips held in place solely by Kageyama’s earlier command, the power the other man wielded over him. He wanted to rock back, to fuck himself on Kageyama’s fingers—the force of his need was alarming. He wanted Kageyama to debase him to a point where he was mindless, ruined, make him so filthy he wasn’t fit to be looked at again.

Like he was reading his mind, Kageyama bent over him and breathed, “You like this?”

“Wh-what?” Shouyou gasped.

“You’re making a mess all over my floor,” the bigger man said, a quiet reprimand.

“Sorry,” Shouyou said, begged forgiveness, because he thought he had made the Wolf angry. Kageyama nipped at his ear.

“I asked if you like it, didn’t I?”

Shouyou looked down at the thick, wet smear of slick spreading on the wood beneath him from where Kageyama’s fingers were drawing it out, at the little droplets of pre-come that bounced off the head of his cock to splatter across the floor every time Kageyama thrust his fingers deep inside of him, and threw back his head and moaned, _“Yes,_ Kageyama, I _love it—”_

Kageyama fisted a hand tight in his hair, so tight it brought tears to his eyes, and shoved his head down, until his forearms and forehead were touching the floor. He pulled his fingers away and Shouyou whined in protest.

“Shhh,” the Wolf whispered, and Shouyou went silent. “It might be good, that you’re so little.”

If Shouyou could have made sound, he would have asked why—but then something hot and breathtakingly large pressed against his opening and his only thought was it might, in fact, be excellent that Kageyama was so big.

A voice whispered quiet, so quiet, into his ear, “If it's too much, tell me,” and then Kageyama pushed his cock inside of Shouyou, all of it at once, and Shouyou grit his teeth around a scream and shuddered on the floor, because it _was_ , it hurt _deliciously_ and he never wanted Kageyama to stop.

“Oh, fuck,” Kageyama breathed above him. He laid his hands on the tops of Shouyou’s thighs before sliding them slowly around to the inside, pulling his legs a little further apart. The widened stance made him sink in just a little bit further, and he let out a deep groan. _“Ohh…_ you _feel…”_

Shouyou couldn’t think. He wasn’t even sure he was still breathing. It sounded like Kageyama liked it. Oh, god, he wanted the Wolf to like how it felt inside him.

“I’m going to be rough,” Kageyama warned, his voice coming out winded and stunned.

“Make it _hurt,”_ Shouyou replied, a challenge, and Kageyama drew all the way out of him before snapping his hips forward, and he couldn’t hold back his screams anymore.

It felt like he was being cleaved in two and then violently emptied every time Kageyama slammed into him before yanking back out, skin slapping on skin, Shouyou’s knees undoubtedly bruising from getting pounded on the hard wooden flooring. He was letting a stranger have their way with him, was begging for it, when just yesterday he’d only ever gotten himself off on downy blankets and clean scented linens, had certainly never been fucked like this before.

The way he was aching now felt so much better.

He stretched out one arm, turning his head to rest his cheek against the floor. It was still warm from the dying glow of the fire. His sobbing cries ripped out of his lungs, throat sore, voice hoarse. All the while, the pleasure of being taken over and possessed in his entirety built, and built.

He could barely speak but he managed to choke out a whisper. “More.”

“Louder,” Kageyama ground out.

 _“More,”_ Shouyou repeated, broken and yet somehow furious. “More, I want _more,_ I want it harder, I want you _faster,_ are you deaf, _I said MORE—”_

Kageyama reached out and yanked his hands behind his back, gathering his wrists together in one big hand to keep him from falling forward, the fingers of his other hand tight on Shouyou’s hip, holding him firmly in place as he fucked him silent. There was spit collecting at the corners of Shouyou’s mouth as he moaned, running down his chin—he felt like an animal, like a beast with no other need than this. He needed Kageyama _just like this,_ again and again and again.

“Mind your tone,” Kageyama snarled, and something about that animal sound, the absolute control the Wolf wielded over Shouyou, was the last straw. Shouyou arched back toward him with a broken sob, and streaked thick, white ropes of cum across the wooden floor.

Kageyama pushed him back down, let him fall into his own mess, and pulled out, and Shouyou didn’t dare complain. Seconds later, he felt something warm and wet splattering onto his ass and thighs as Kageyama finished all over his bare skin. He lay there, perfectly still under the gaze of the hunter. He could hear Kageyama’s harsh breaths above him.

A long moment passed. Then a hand, big and warm and solid, brushed softly over his shoulders, and Kageyama said, “You can move, now.”

Like a line being cut, the words released Shouyou. He tumbled onto his back, chest heaving, and stared up at the other man, for the first time since Kageyama had gotten behind him. He ached in places he hadn’t realized he possessed. All of him felt exhausted and heavy and sated, the fire under his skin cooling at last. “Kageyama.”

“Yeah?” the other man asked, pulling his pants back up, hair ruffled and out of place.

_“Thanks.”_

Kageyama shot him a sideways glance, then shrugged. “It sounded like you needed it.”

Shouyou beamed up at him. “I did. I really, really did.”

Kageyama nodded, stiffly. Without a further word of departure, he climbed the creaking stairs and disappeared.

Shouyou sighed, not bothering to put his pants back on. Sleeping on the floor was not as appealing a prospect as eating on it. He was used to soft beds, down comforters, mountains of pillows. And it was starting to get cool in the cabin, with the fire finally nothing but glowing embers and ash in the hearth. Surreptitiously, he glanced at the cushions on the settee. They looked acceptably soft… but approaching Grey, who lounged on it (and seemed to have _somehow_ apparently slept through all that), was a frightening thought.

Shouyou rolled onto his hands and knees, crawling slowly over to the sofa. As he neared, one of the golden eyes of the animal slipped open—not as asleep as he’d thought. He froze, holding out his hands. Maybe she would smell Kageyama on him.

“Hey…” he said softly. “Hi… do you mind if I join you?”

The wolf gave a small, animal huff. But it wasn’t growling or baring its teeth. It hadn’t even looked his way once since they’d entered the cabin. He shuffled closer, reaching out a hand. Very, very gently, he scratched his fingers over the top of its head, and tips of its ears.

The wolf’s eye slid closed as he pet it. He breathed a sigh of relief and moved, just as slowly, to settle onto the couch next to it, still scratching its fur. It was soft and warm.

“You’re not so bad, huh?” he asked quietly, smoothing his hand over her back. He supposed both residents of the cabin had their… surprises. “Can I stay with you for now, Grey? The floor is hard. And my back hurts.” Everything sort of hurt, but it wasn’t really… bad. He was sticky, but he would just have to deal with that, as well. The wolf gave a small whine and he grinned. “Thanks.”

Careful not to jostle the animal too much, Shouyou lay down next to it. It wasn’t long before he felt something cold nudging at his neck, before another something, this time warm and wet, lapped over his jaw and cheek.

“You’re not still hungry, are you?” he asked, nervously, before a large, fluffy tail was draped over his bare legs. The licking ceased, and he rolled over, curling into the wolf’s side. It was warm and comforting, with his fingers curled into its coat.

He wanted to stay there longer. Not just laying there on the cushions, content and exhausted and, admittedly, feeling very well-fucked, for the first time in his life. He wanted to stay at the cabin, where he wouldn’t have to deal with the celebratory buzz over his engagement at the castle, pretending as though it was what he’d wanted all along. He could just hide here for a few more days. But the wedding wasn’t for another year, so maybe he could even get away with a few more weeks. Or months.

 _Or maybe forever,_ said a little voice inside of him.

But he knew that those actions would have consequences, knew even this one night of disappearance probably wouldn’t go unnoticed or unpunished. He had to go back.

He wondered how long Kageyama’s scent would linger on him, after he returned to his kingdom. He wondered if his betrothed would be able to smell it, and felt a small, but vicious, sense of satisfaction. He hoped he would. Exhaustion began to set in, muting his vindictive thoughts, and in no time at all, he was drifting off to sleep.

And so he spent the night amongst the wolves in the woods.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Me:** Okay, so I think I want to attempt A/B/O?? But it's gonna be short, like 2k words M A X  
>  **Ellessey:** _[[looks at the screen like she's on an episode of The Office]](http://i.imgur.com/WUTna3b.gif)_
> 
> (Also: a Prince Shouyou [graphic](http://esselley.tumblr.com/post/145413410484/once-upon-a-time-in-a-bright-and-prosperous)!)
> 
> [I'm [@esselley](http://esselley.tumblr.com/) on Tumblr, [@Esselle_hq](https://twitter.com/Esselle_hq) on Twitter]


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you haven't sensed it already, this fic is essentially a short Harlequin romance novel. We 'boutta get TRASHY! Observe, as the size kink gradually becomes too blatant to leave out of tags.

The sky was still a deep blue when Shouyou woke the next morning, just starting to lighten to dawn. It was the smell of food cooking that roused him from warm slumber, reaching his nose before his eyes had opened. The bed underneath him was a bit lumpier than he was used to, and there was something tickling his nose. His arm was draped over an oddly fuzzy pillow… and suddenly, the pillow moved.

Shouyou sat upright. He was still huddled on the sofa in Kageyama's small cabin, naked from the waist down, and curled up next to the grey wolf. His cloak had been laid over his legs, though it had been across the room when he went to sleep. He looked over to see Kageyama sitting in front of the fire, holding a skillet out over the flames. His eyes slid away from Shouyou as he turned back to the food.

"Took you long enough," he said gruffly. "I thought you were going to sleep all morning."

"The sun isn't even up yet," Shouyou croaked. His cheeks heated at the hoarseness lingering on his own voice, a reminder of how loud he'd been the night before. But it was quickly forgotten, as he watched Kageyama. He certainly hadn't been the only one who'd enjoyed it.

"It's about to be," Kageyama said. "Which means we need to get going."

 _Then you should have woken me sooner,_ Shouyou wanted to say, but stopped himself, picking at the red cloak draped over his body. It wasn't Grey who had put it there, after all. He decided upon smiling his biggest smile.

"What's for breakfast?"

Breakfast turned out to be a large meal of thick, fried bacon, with eggs retrieved early morning from the small chicken coop outside. Shouyou stood behind Kageyama to watch him cook, wrapped up in his cloak, able to look over his shoulder while the tall man was seated. He let out a startled noise when the other man cracked the eggs (three at a time, held between his fingers) into the skillet over the bacon.

"Have you never seen someone cook eggs before?" Kageyama asked.

"I—I have!" Shouyou said defensively (he hadn't). "That turns into a chicken!" he exclaimed, transfixed, pointing at the drippy mess in the pan.

"Not if you eat it first," Kageyama said.

It was the simplest, and perhaps the most delicious breakfast Shouyou had ever had. They dipped the hot bacon in the bright yellow yolk that burst from the egg whites, licking the salt off their fingers afterward. There was juice squeezed fresh and not mixed with sugar like it always was at the castle—tart enough to make Shouyou's nose and mouth wrinkle up, and yet delicious enough that he finished every drop. Kageyama drank hot tea—he had an entire cupboard full of tea leaves and plants he'd picked, and spent quite a long time choosing amongst them.

It was a process which Shouyou observed with secret delight. His glee only magnified when Kageyama seemed to experience even more difficulty in selecting a teacup, of which he had a great many. Shouyou had to hide his smile at the Wolf's serious expression and obvious consternation over his decision. He kept the cups neatly hanging in a row along the wall near the table—tiny, delicate things that seemed hardly large enough for Shouyou's small hands, let alone the Wolf's enormous ones. Shouyou hadn't noticed them the night before, having had his mind on other matters. But now he couldn't stop staring at them, imagining Kageyama in town at the market, finding and bartering for and carefully bringing home each porcelain cup and saucer.

"Kageyama," Shouyou asked, after the other man had finally made his decision, putting the leaves in a kettle of water on the fire. "Can I have some tea, too?"

"Okay," Kageyama said. "Do you want to pick your cup?"

Shouyou nodded, fighting down the urge to fling his arms around the other man. The Wolf moved out of his chair so Shouyou could stand on it, raising himself to eye level with the cups. The chair wobbled underneath him and he nearly put out his hands to steady himself, but Kageyama (who was still as tall as he was, even standing on the chair) put an arm around his waist and the other on the back of the chair to keep it from moving. Instinctively, Shouyou leaned back into him, smiling.

"Thanks," he said. "I can choose any of them?"

"Any one you want," Kageyama said, breath tickling his ear.

It took a great deal of effort for Shouyou not to turn around and point right at him.

After breakfast, they set off. Shouyou thought about complaining—about begging Kageyama to let him stay, maybe just a few more days. But he knew it wouldn't do any good, and furthermore, he knew he couldn't hide forever. The only course of action open to him now was to go home, to plead with his parents, to find another way. He had a year to do it.

The journey back through the forest was nothing like his fraught nighttime excursion. Everything seemed so much lighter, with the path clear and constant under his feet. Though still mostly blocked from view, the light from the sun filtered through the leaves of the trees, dappling the ground white and gold. Animal calls rang out around them, but they sounded playful now, melodious. The woods were still mysterious, to be sure, but now it seemed the kind of mystery Shouyou wanted to solve.

He snuck a sideways glance at Kageyama, striding along leisurely next to him. Over his shoulders he carried several large bushels of chopped wood and his waist was adorned with animal pelts, all to sell. He had said he was traveling light that day, since he was escorting Shouyou back to town—the wood itself looked like each log weighed more than Shouyou did, but the other man didn't seem to notice the burden. His crossbow he had slung along his back, and he appeared entirely unhurried, for all his talk of late mornings and too long sleeping in. Shouyou wondered if he, too, was enjoying the calm of the woods. It was undoubtedly because he was with Kageyama, he knew, that things seemed so much more reassuring.

"Hey, Kageyama…"

"Hmm."

"Do you like living out here?" Shouyou asked.

The other man shrugged. "It's fine."

"Just 'fine'?" Shouyou asked. "What do you like most? Maybe the scenery? Or something about that—" he took a very deep breath, "—woodland air?"

"Maybe," the Wolf said, in a tone that made Shouyou close his mouth, "it's the peace and quiet."

This signaled an end to the conversation until they turned off the main path, following a branching, less traveled road down to a nearby village on the outskirts of Shouyou's kingdom. It was a small town, and most of the townspeople were traders. Shouyou learned Kageyama often stopped there on his way into the bigger towns, but today it would be as far as he went. He was going to find Shouyou a guide to take him the rest of the way to the royal city, where Shouyou had told him he was from.

"Put your hood up," Kageyama told him. "People aren't as used to seeing Lambs outside the larger cities." Shouyou nodded, making sure the hood of his cloak covered his face. He knew he wasn't in any danger, but he didn't want to be recognized, not in front of Kageyama. "Just stay close to me," the Wolf added. Shouyou looked up at him in surprise. The other man was staring straight ahead, dark eyes alert and watchful, and Shouyou ducked his head, wondering at the feeling of warmth that spread through him.

They stopped by a few of the merchant shops in the market, first, so Kageyama could trade some of his wares before the stalls began to get crowded. Shouyou tried to keep from staring. There was so much here that he'd never seen before, tall men and women with tattoos and the scars of labor and broad smiles. The market felt vibrant in a way that was different from the bustle of the palace he grew up in—it was boisterous and unrefined, but the people and sights seemed so much larger than life.

Eventually they came to an inn and tavern, where Kageyama hoped he'd find someone to accompany Shouyou back. He left Shouyou with instructions to sit at one of the tables in a dusky corner, and made his way up to the barkeep's counter.

Shouyou settled in against the wall, fascinated by his surroundings. He was so engrossed in the antics of the bar patrons that he almost didn't hear the conversation happening one table over, held by a group of soldiers dressed in armor not of his kingdom.

"…lost all trace of him, I heard. Shady business, letting him just disappear like that, hardly a day after the proposal."

"The king's not pleased at all. Can't imagine theirs is, either, but who knows? Maybe he helped the boy escape?"

Shouyou straightened, head swiveling to look at the group from under his hood.

"Why would he, though? He'd have to be an idiot not to see this for an opportunity. Though maybe he really is—if my kid was a Lamb, I'd have him under lock and key!"

They all laughed raucously. Shouyou gripped the edge of the table, fingertips white.

"Well, you know how the king is when he's displeased. I doubt that boy'll ever see the outside of his room again, once he's been claimed."

The laughter of the soldiers was cut off as Shouyou rushed by their table, bumping into it and upsetting all the drinks. Their shouts went unheeded as he raced out the door, head spinning, blood boiling.

So that was how things stood, was it? Like hell he was going back. He wasn't going to sign over his life, not like this.

He darted down cobbled side streets and alleys, not familiar with the city, only thinking about escaping. He very quickly found himself utterly lost.

The rhythm of heavy, booted footfalls approaching gave him pause. They sounded purposeful—if he listened carefully, he could hear the soft clinking of armor. Then, a rough voice said:

"I think he went this way."

Panicked, Shouyou stumbled backwards, but the alleyway was a dead end. He was trapped, heart pounding, sure they could hear it—when an unmarked wooden door to his right that he hadn't noticed flew open and someone yanked him through it, a hand tight over his mouth to muffle his choked gasp.

"Shut _up,_ " a voice hissed in his ear. _Kageyama._

The door led to a cramped area behind a set of stables. On this side of the wall, the soft sound of horses and other animals filled the air. Kageyama's chest was warm at Shouyou's back, arm tight around his waist. He had lifted Shouyou clear into the air, leaving his feet to dangle, seemingly without noticing.

"Calm down," came the growl in his ear again. Shouyou could feel the rumble of speech against his back. "Those soldiers are bloodhounds. They sniffed you out when you got scared."

"I'm not scared," Shouyou tried to say, but the hand over his mouth blocked his words.

Bloodhounds were Wolves trained specifically to hunt prey, to track by scent. That must be why Kageyama had pulled him in here, where the smell of the animals would do better at masking it.

"Why are they tracking you?"

He loosened his hand over Shouyou's mouth. "I don't know," Shouyou said.

Before he could blink, he found his position reversing, his back slammed hard into the wall, Kageyama's grip tight on his arms. The Wolf leaned in close, furious.

"Don't lie to me, Lamb," he said. "I can tell."

Shouyou felt like his throat was closing up. It was instinct—the instinct of a prey animal confronted by the predator, cornered, with nowhere left to run. In more ways than one. Kageyama released him and he dropped to stand on his own two feet, gasping for air, eyes wide. The other man pulled something out of his pocket—a piece of crumpled paper. He smoothed it out, holding it up in front of Shouyou's face.

"What is this?"

Shouyou's eyes focused on the paper. _Oh, no._ It was a poster, clearly bearing his face—and his real name, title, and an immense reward for finding him, like he was so much lost chattel.

But it was the announcement at the bottom that caught his attention, the flourish of letters and numbers detailing the urgency of the matter, the wedding date drawing near. It had been moved up, to take place not after one year, but in only _one month's_ time.

"Do you have any idea," Kageyama hissed, unmindful of the state of shock Shouyou was entering, "what would have happened if I'd taken you back myself? If they'd smelled me on you?"

"My—my parents aren't like that," Shouyou mumbled. "They'd have been grateful."

"And this Wolf-king, your betrothed?" Kageyama snapped. "Would he have been as grateful, when he realized what we'd done together?"

At the reminder, Shouyou shut his eyes. "I don't care what he thinks. I'm not going back to him."

"They're going to _hunt you down—"_

"Then let them!" Shouyou shouted. "I don't want to belong to him! I don't want to be locked away!"

Kageyama shushed him angrily. "What do you mean, 'locked away'?"

The guards had said the king planned to claim him—this meant taking him while the Wolf was in heat and Marking him as its mate. It was a visible symbol, a sign that the Lamb was off limits to all others, permanently.

"That's what he's going to _do,_ " Shouyou said desperately. "Once he has me, he's going to make sure I never try to escape again."

"Well, don't try to run away and you'll be fine, won't you?" Kageyama said.

"No," Shouyou shook his head, setting his mouth in a firm line. "Because I _will_ try to escape. Every chance I get. I'll _never_ stop. And eventually, he'll lock me up and I'll never get out."

"I don't get it," Kageyama shook his head. "You're a prince—and he's a _king._ His kingdom is rich. Why wouldn't you want to marry him?"

Shouyou glared up at him, feeling fury coursing through him. "Idiot!" he said, so vehemently that Kageyama's eyes widened. Shouyou shoved against his chest for good measure. "I don't care about that! Imagine someone locked you away for the rest of your life, how would _you_ feel?!"

Kageyama stepped away from him, rubbing at his chest where Shouyou had pushed him, even though it couldn't possibly have hurt. "Alright, _alright,_ " Kageyama said. "So, what is your plan, exactly?"

"I don't… I don't have one," Shouyou said, his anger rushing away, fading to hopelessness. "As soon as we're away from here, they'll smell me, won't they? I'm not even going to make it out of the village." He dropped his eyes, finally. "I was supposed to have a year…"

"This says one month," Kageyama said of the poster.

"I can see that," Shouyou responded, voice dull.

The dark-haired man stared at him, before sighing. He looked around, and rubbed the back of his neck. Suddenly, the image of a line of neatly hung teacups popped into Shouyou's head, and even feeling as terrible as he did, he couldn't help the corner of his mouth hitching up into a smile. The big Wolf was so awkward, despite all his size and power. Tentatively, he reached out his hand, tugging on Kageyama's shirt.

"Kageyama," he said, seriously. The other man looked down at him, surprised. "Thank you, for last night. You should go, now, so they can't find you."

Shouyou squared his shoulders, trying to look much, much more confident than he felt. That was all there was for it. He had made things so much worse for himself that he couldn't possibly do anything other than get back to the castle, as quickly as he could. Nodding once, he turned away from the Wolf and began to walk away.

Kageyama reached out to grab his wrist, pulling him back. Shouyou yelped, suddenly finding himself lifted into the air again. Then warm, rough hands were pulling him close, guiding his legs around Kageyama's waist as he was pressed back against the wall.

"Kageyama?" he gasped, as the Wolf pinned him, one hand flat across his back, cushioning it away from the rough wall, the other threading through his hair.

Kageyama tilted his head to the side, dark hair falling across his forehead as he pulled Shouyou closer. "They can't track you if they can only smell me."

"You're going to help me?" Shouyou asked. The hand in his hair pushed at him gently, until his lips pressed into Kageyama's neck. Suddenly, Shouyou _smelled_ him—warm and rich and sharp, like pine needles and stones heated by fire. He whined and buried his nose into Kageyama's skin, breathing deep. The Wolf smelled _wonderful._

"I guess I am," Kageyama said. He sounded displeased, but he shifted his hold slightly to slip his hand under Shouyou's shirt, running it soothingly up and down his back. "I told you to calm down." And just like that, Shouyou's frayed nerves, his frustration, were pushed to the back of his mind, now that he had Kageyama against him once more. He shivered, feeling the way the other man's fingers splayed over his whole back. He was just so _big._

Shouyou hummed against his skin. He let his nose and mouth brush from one end of Kageyama's neck to the other, over his throat, up to his jaw. Kageyama released a slow breath before lifting him up higher, so he could rub his cheek against Shouyou's own before letting that dark, soft fall of hair tickle all over his skin. Shouyou clenched his hands in the other man's shirt, fingers tight against the strong, hard muscles in his shoulders, eyes falling closed. He had never felt this before, this warmth, this slow, simmering _bliss._  

"Do I still smell… strange to you?" he breathed, voice sounding far off even to his own ears.

"I never said it was _bad,_ " Kageyama told him, words spoken into his skin. "Just different."

"I really want you to like it," Shouyou whispered. He heard the other man's sharp intake of air, and then suddenly there were little laps of tongue all over his skin—quick and soft and barely there, yet somehow each sent a shock right through him, until he was mewling, gasping.

This was more than just helpful. Kageyama was kissing his neck, lips intimate, wanting, responding to every small noise he made, and Shouyou's mind went quiet and blank as his instincts took over, pure and basic and focused. He rocked his hips forward, spreading his thighs wider so he could press close, warmth pooling in his stomach.

Kageyama's breathing quickened as he gripped Shouyou tighter, the hand against his back sliding down, lower. "We can't do that," he murmured, in that low, husky voice, and Shouyou bucked against him harder, more insistent. Yes, they could. Kageyama wasn't stopping, he was moving against Shouyou instead, all of him firm and powerful as he started to grind their hips together in a slow, carnal rhythm that made the low hum in Shouyou's brain grow louder, the one that kept bubbling up to the surface to overpower every other thought when Kageyama was near him, when Kageyama touched him. It meant _yes,_ and _need you,_ and we _should,_ because he wanted it, and only Kageyama could give it to him—

"Kageyama," he moaned quietly. "I want—I _want_ —"

Kageyama mouthed at the hollow of his throat—and then there was pressure, teeth, the softest bite against his exposed skin.

Shouyou shuddered once before he stilled all over, letting his head fall back as pleasure coursed through him. He bared his throat, inviting, begging. _Take._

Kageyama pulled away from him abruptly. "No, I—sorry," he panted, quickly. His cheeks were pink. From the heat in his own, Shouyou could tell he matched. "That should be fine for now. But we have to—"

Dazed, Shouyou stared at him. "Are you sure?" he asked. _I want you here, now,_ he did not add, because he didn't need to. It was more than obvious, in his face, and the way he was pressed against Kageyama, hard and ready.

"Yes," Kageyama said. "We need to move, before they search back here."

He set Shouyou down on the ground again and grabbed his hand, pulling him close as they snuck out from the stables. They made their way out of the village, and encountered no one to stop them or pay attention to them. Once, they had to duck into a dark doorway as they heard the patrol passing by, and Kageyama loomed over him, shielding him from view. Shouyou pressed close, shut his eyes, breathed him in again. When the coast was clear, they moved, out of the town and back toward the forest.

Kageyama didn't let go of his hand until they were well on their way back down the path, hidden by the trees.  

*

Shouyou didn't say a word, didn't ask a single question the entire way back to the cabin. As they cleared the tree line and the cabin came back in sight, there was a great howl, and he turned to see Grey, speeding across the clearing toward them. He expected her to go to Kageyama, but instead she jumped on him, knocking him on his back into the grass as he yelped.

"Grey—" Kageyama started to say in warning, and cut off as the wolf gently closed her teeth over the bottom half of Shouyou's face.

"What's she doing?" Shouyou asked, alarmed.

Kageyama stared at them as Grey released him, before trotting to Kageyama to whine at him and lick his hand. "She was saying hello," he said.

"By biting me?" Shouyou stood, dusting grass off his pants.

"She's a wolf, not a human," Kageyama reminded him. "That's just what wolves do." He led the way back to the cabin, letting them inside.

"So she missed me, did she?" Shouyou grinned at him. He felt bold now, light all over after their escape, and after what had happened, with Kageyama, while they hid. "Makes sense. Having only you for company, I'd be excited to see just about anyone else."

The dark-haired man shot him a withering glare. "See if I help you again."

Shouyou's smile faded. "Kageyama…"

"What?" the Wolf asked flatly. He was suddenly caught extremely off guard when Shouyou launched himself forward, wrapping his thin arms around Kageyama's waist.

"Thank you," Shouyou said, burying his face in his shirt, overwhelmed with gratitude. "You didn't have to do that at _all."_

"I know I didn't, idiot," said Kageyama. He sounded supremely uncomfortable. "It's not like I'm letting you stay here for good, or anything."

Shouyou nodded into his stomach. "No, I know."

"Just for a… I guess a few weeks. You have to…" Kageyama swallowed. "You have to go back, eventually, right?"

"Yeah," Shouyou said, and squeezed his arms tighter. He knew he had to go back. But for now, he could just stay here, like this.

"Hinata—Shouyou? Um…"

"You can call me whatever you want," Shouyou mumbled.

"Okay. Hinata," Kageyama said. His voice sounded softer than it normally did. "Let's eat something, I'm starving." He loosened Shouyou's arms around his waist until they finally, reluctantly, fell away.

Kageyama cooked dinner, some of the meat from the night before covered in the rest of the cheese they had left, melted over the meat until it bubbled and browned in the pan. He laughed a bit at Shouyou when the redhead nearly burned his fingers trying to get the sausages in his rush to eat. Shouyou lobbed a half-eaten piece at him, which he immediately regretted when Kageyama caught it in his mouth easily and ate it.

When their plates were empty and their stomachs full, Kageyama stood, yawning. Shouyou sprawled on the wooden floor once again, rubbing at his tired eyes.

"I need a bath," Kageyama muttered.

Shouyou perked up instantly. As sleepy as he was, he was also long overdue for a bath, and between that day's excitement and the rigorous activity the night before (not to mention excess of bodily fluids), nothing sounded more appealing than a long, hot soak. Kageyama seemed to have noticed his interest.

"I guess if you're going to be here, you need to learn what to do," he sighed. "Wait here one second and I'll show you."

He disappeared up the stairs for awhile, before coming back down, a bundle of cloth in his arms. He tossed something to Shouyou, grinning unapologetically at the undignified squawk Shouyou let out when the soft material hit him in the face.

"You ass, what was that for?" Shouyou yelped, unharmed, but embarrassed. He shook out the cloth to see Kageyama had given him an enormous shirt.

"You've been wearing those clothes for two days," the other man said. "Wear that for now. I'm going to have to get you spare ones next time I go into town."

"Oh," Shouyou said, irritation fading. It was such a startlingly nice gesture of Kageyama's outright acceptance of letting him stay that he wasn't sure how to respond. "Thank you. I, um, I've got money, for when you do…"

Kageyama waved a hand as he pulled open the cabin door. "We'll figure it out later," he said. "Follow me."

The cabin's facilities were located in the back, a small second building made of smooth chopped wood, with a very large, square stone bath built in the middle, nearly the size of what Shouyou was used to back home. Kageyama hung up a lantern inside and showed Shouyou how it worked, how to light the fire to keep the water hot once the bath was filled, how to drain it once he was done. It seemed simple enough, but…  

Kageyama stared at his glazed eyes and slack mouth. "Are you getting any of this?"

Shouyou nodded vigorously. "Yes! Sorry! I'm just… really tired. But I'll be fine!"

Kageyama stared at him, then shook his head, muttering something under his breath about Shouyou accidentally boiling himself to death. "Just get in with me tonight, you can do it by yourself next time." He paused. "But not when I'm not here, let me show you again—"

"Did you just say to get in with you?" Shouyou asked.

Kageyama gave another long suffering sigh. "Yes. I don't feel like doing this twice right now so—" He broke off as Shouyou stripped his clothes off, dumping them in a pile near the wall.

"Yes," Shouyou said instantly. "Yes, okay, take off your clothes." Kageyama's eyebrows shot up, and Shouyou felt his ears go red. _Maybe a bit too excited,_ he realized.

Embarrassed, he turned and jumped straight into the water, causing a huge splash and earning a loud shout from Kageyama. He surfaced, howling.

"It's _hot!"_

"Obviously!" Kageyama bellowed at him. "I _just_ heated it!"

"Why didn't you warn me?!" Shouyou yelped, clinging to the side. "Big dumb Wolf!"

There was a more moderate-sounding splash than the one he'd caused, the sound of wading, and then there were hands on his waist, lifting him out of the water to set him on the side, leaving only his legs dangling in.

 _"I'm_ dumb?" Kageyama snorted. "You look like a lobster." Shouyou moaned, covering his face with his hands. "It'll be fine, stupid, you just got in too fast. Do you ever think before you do things?"

"You're so mean," Shouyou complained, still hiding his face. The unpleasant sting of too hot bathwater was beginning to fade, as goosebumps popped up on his arms and legs from the contrast in room temperature.

"You called me dumb," Kageyama pointed out. There was a small splash, and then warm water coursed over his shoulders and arms. Another splash, and more water poured over his thighs. He peeked out from between his fingers.

Kageyama (a very _naked_ Kageyama) had moved to stand in between his legs, a look of concentration on his face as he cupped his big hands under the water to pour it over Shouyou. Shouyou's eyes widened.

"What are you doing?" he asked, curious, even as his cheeks heated up under his fingers.

"You're going to get cold," Kageyama said. "And probably sick. And I bet you're really annoying when you're sick."

"I'm not!" Shouyou protested. This was a lie.

"What if you get sick, and just, I don't know, _die,"_ Kageyama said, glaring at the bathwater as he ladled it over Shouyou's knees. "I don't want you dying in my house. I'm not burying you."

"Just let Grey eat me," Shouyou said morbidly.

Kageyama spluttered. "No! Then she'll get sick, and also die in my house. I never should have let you inside, this is a disaster."

Shouyou lowered his hands to stare at the other man. Kageyama looked up at him, blue eyes wide.

Shouyou burst out laughing, right in his face. Kageyama scowled.

"Kageyama, are you _serious?"_ he wheezed.

"It's not my fault you're this tiny… delicate… _prince,_ " Kageyama said, nose curling at the last word.

"I'm not delicate," Shouyou said, wiping tears from his eyes.

"I can pick you up with one hand," Kageyama pointed out.

Shouyou cocked his head. "You didn't act like I was delicate last night."

Kageyama stared up at him. "You didn't want me to."

Shouyou's stomach gave a sharp jolt, as if only now realizing everything about the situation they were in. Both of them naked, dripping wet, his legs spread apart for Kageyama to get between them. He wanted Kageyama again, he hadn't stopped wanting him, not since that afternoon, pressed against the wall—not since the night before, on his knees, with Kageyama over him and inside him.

He opened his mouth to ask for it.

"We should finish up," Kageyama said, quietly.

Shouyou snapped his mouth shut. Kageyama wasn't looking at him anymore, he was looking down and away, and Shouyou realized how things had changed since the previous night. Nothing about him was secret anymore.

Including the engagement.

He felt himself wanting to scream, that same trapped, helpless feeling that threatened to overwhelm him every time he remembered what his life was to become.

But he forced it down, and said, "Hey, Kageyama, turn around."

"What?" Kageyama asked. "Why?"

"Just do it already, stop asking so many questions," Shouyou said, as imperiously as he could manage.

Kageyama narrowed his eyes. "Fine, your _highness,_ " he said irritably. But he did as he was told.

Immediately, Shouyou wondered how well he'd considered his plan before acting on it. The sight of Kageyama's back made him catch his breath, water sliding down it in rivulets from his wet hair, the low light from the lantern throwing shadows over the sculpted muscles under his skin that shifted as he moved… the Wolf was unbelievable, he looked like he shouldn't exist, impossibly tall and well-built, but still with a slim, smooth grace that embodied the creature of the woods he was named for. The perfect balance of raw power and sensual beauty.

Shouyou hoped against hope the other man didn't turn around again, because there was no way Kageyama would miss how hard he'd gotten, just from looking at his _shoulders_ (they _were_ unfairly attractive shoulders).

"Are you actually going to do something?" Kageyama wondered.

"Yes," Shouyou said, voice coming out too fast, too breathless, but there was nothing for it now, he had to do it or this would all just seem more and more odd. He reached forward and laid his hands on Kageyama's shoulders. The touch of smooth, hot skin under his fingers made him inhale sharply, but he kept going, kneading his palms into the firm muscle, slow and sure.

Kageyama froze, the opposite of what Shouyou wanted him to do. "Are you—"

"Relax," Shouyou scolded. "That's the point."

"I'm not _not_ relaxing on purpose," Kageyama said irritably. "I'm— _mm, hnnh—"_ He broke off entirely as Shouyou moved his hands up, working them into his dark hair, along his scalp, before dragging his thumb and forefinger down Kageyama's neck in long, firm strokes. The other man's shoulders dropped, limp, and Shouyou grinned.

"Better."

"I'm not…" Kageyama said, head falling forward. His voice was a quiet mumble. "I'm just… it's…" He gave up, lapsing into a long, drawn out sigh when Shouyou smoothed his hands over his arms, pressing his thumbs in hard, unafraid of hurting Kageyama. He stroked over his hard biceps, needing to use both hands to cover the surface area of just one of them. The other man let out a low hiss of satisfaction. _"Shit,_ that feels good."

"It's supposed to," Shouyou said. To his relief, focusing on the task at hand had helped him calm down a little. The pang in his stomach had dulled to a low flame instead. "You're really tense."

"I wonder why," Kageyama said, voice dry.

"I know, I know," Shouyou cut him off. "That's why I'm doing this. I mean, it can't be good to get so stiff in your shoulders if you're lifting heavy things all day. So… just let me help out, a little. It's the least I can do."

Kageyama snorted softly. "You're weird, for a prince."

"I've heard that before," Shouyou agreed.

"How did you get so—oh, _right_ there…" The Wolf's voice broke off into a low, rough groan as Shouyou started to work his knuckles into the middle of his back. The honest sound of pleasure made Shouyou's heart skip a few beats. Kageyama was absolutely not the only one benefitting from the massage, he thought, feeling slightly guilty. "How did you get so good at this?"

"We had people, at the castle," Shouyou said. "Doctors, nurses, that specialized in this. Anyway, my father thought it would be good for me to learn—because I'm supposed to…" He sighed. "I'm supposed to be useful, someday. To someone."

Kageyama had gone quiet and still, his shoulders stiffening again. Shouyou flicked at them.

"I told you not to do that."

But the other man pulled away from him. "Stop. You can stop."

Shouyou frowned. "What? I thought you liked it."

"I _do—"_ Kageyama started to say, before shaking his head. "I just don't want you to have to think about that."

Shouyou couldn't stop himself from smiling. "Kageyama… it's fine. That was to help you."

The dark-haired man spun around, so fast it startled Shouyou. He tipped backwards, but Kageyama caught his hands, pulling him upright.

"Don't do things for me because you feel like you have to," Kageyama said forcefully.

Shouyou stared at him, shocked. "I'm not."

"That's not why you're here," the other man continued.

Shouyou nodded at him, and Kageyama let go of his hands. Then he glanced down—toward Shouyou's lap. So did Shouyou. Kageyama's eyebrows raised again, shooting up until they disappeared below his black bangs, mouth open slightly in surprise.

Shouyou squeaked and bounced to his feet, nearly slipping on the wooden flooring. "I'll let you finish up!" he said, face going red. He knew there was no point now, Kageyama had seen everything, but he still snatched up his newly borrowed shirt to throw it over his head, relieved that it was long enough to cover his obvious erection. "I'm glad I could make you feel good! I mean—" Someone end his suffering. "I'll just go."

He practically flew out the door of the small bathhouse, slamming it shut behind, leaning against it to catch his breath. The grass was soft under his toes, and he belatedly realized he'd left his dirty clothes inside. He scrunched up his face. Should he go back for them? He didn't want to just leave them for Kageyama to have to pick up, after everything _else_ he'd already put the man through.

The wooden slats of the building fit snugly together, but not perfectly enough that there were no openings. He got to his knees in the grass and squeezed one eye shut, squinting through a tiny gap in the logs, the inside of the room visible.

Kageyama had turned to lean against the side of the bath, and was staring straight at the door. Shouyou recoiled, but it became clear that the other man couldn't actually see him—he just appeared to be in shock. Shouyou cringed, inwardly, wondering just how much more idiocy and awkward sexual advances the other man would be able to stand before he dragged Shouyou back to the castle himself.

And then, suddenly, Kageyama snorted. He put his hand over his eyes, shoulders shaking, his bottom lip caught in between his teeth—he was _laughing,_ Shouyou realized, and it was adorable. Shouyou wasn't sure whether he felt more relieved or indignant. Probably a little of both.

Kageyama rubbed a hand over his face as his quiet laughter subsided, sighing. He rolled his head on his neck, hand dropping below the surface of the water and…

Shouyou's breath caught in his throat. He pressed himself closer to the wooden wall, jaw slack, as Kageyama turned his head to the side, brows drawing together as his eyes fluttered closed. A little gasp escaped him. The muscles in his arm, reaching into the water, had grown taut and defined.

Oh, oh, _oh,_ Kageyama was touching himself, he was naked and pleasuring himself, and he had no idea Shouyou was watching him. Shouyou should stop watching him.

Not for anything in the world was he going to stop watching.

Kageyama's breathing quickened, he bit his lower lip again, the action less adorable and a lot more arousing as he let his mouth fall open, chest hitching, back pulling away from the side of the bath as he started to move his hips below the surface of the water, thrusting into his hand. He licked his lips and lowered his head, hair blocking his face.

 _No,_ Shouyou thought. _Let me see what you look like._ He wanted to imagine, he hadn't been able to see Kageyama the night before. He wanted to know what expressions he had made, buried inside Shouyou. "Let me see you," he breathed, barely a sound leaving his lips.

Like a prayer being answered, Kageyama paused for a moment, then braced his hands against the side of the bath to raise himself out of the water completely to sit on the edge. Shouyou couldn't help it, he'd been half hard for what had felt like most of the day, and he reached down to palm himself at the sight of Kageyama with his legs spread, dripping wet, a red flush spreading over his entire body. He was stunning, all of him, from his broad chest down to his long legs, his erection wet from the bath, long and thick and enormous, and Shouyou couldn't believe that had even fit _inside_ him—further trials were needed, they should determine how such a thing was possible again, and again, and _again._

Kageyama leaned over, reaching for something out of Shouyou's line of sight, and the stretch of muscles along his side made Shouyou choke, whimper loud enough that he pulled Kageyama's shirt up to cover his nose and mouth with one hand as he stroked himself with the other.

And then, almost in answer, Kageyama was back, with _Shouyou's_ discarded shirt in his hand. He buried his nose in it, eyes closed as he breathed in deep, his cheeks bright, bright red.

Shouyou gasped and squeezed himself harder, pleasure shooting down his spine. It was his fault. It was his fault Kageyama was like this.

It was only the fact that barging in now would announce that he'd been spying the entire time that kept Shouyou from throwing himself back into the room. That, and the fact that it was nowhere near unpleasant, watching as Kageyama put a hand back on himself, grip firm and rough as he started to bring himself off again. Shouyou inhaled the scent of him from the shirt against his face, mind spinning, knowing they were both getting so close from the smell of each other, even though Kageyama had no idea, he had no idea he was being watched, no idea just how incredible he looked—

Kageyama rubbed his thumb over the head of his cock before taking it in a shallow grip, pulling on the tip over and over, head falling back as he let out a soft moan, and then, "Hinata, _fuck,_ I hate you so much—"

Shouyou would have laughed at how persistently irritated the other man managed to be, except he was too busy coming into the grass at the sound of his name, remembering just in time to angle himself so he didn't spill all over the door. He bit down hard on the soft cloth of Kageyama's shirt, trying to muffle his quiet whimpering, until he had wrung himself completely dry. Spent and panting, he leaned against the door, his entire body trembling all the way to the tips of his fingers.

Kageyama exhaled a desperate noise like a frustrated cry, starting to stroke himself fully again, hand pumping all the way from the base of his cock to the tip, hips starting to roll hard and fast.

"Good boy," Shouyou whispered weakly, and then Kageyama was hunching over with a gasp as his climax hit him, cum shooting out over the surface of the water. After a moment, he leaned back on his palms, chest heaving as he caught his breath.

Shouyou couldn't look away. He didn't think he had ever seen anything as amazing and perfect in his entire life as the look on the dark-haired Wolf's face right before he came, open and vulnerable and wrecked. His heart was pounding.

He wanted that to be his. He wanted to be the cause of Kageyama falling apart like that, every single time. He needed it, he _needed_ it, he'd never known anything in his life like he knew this one truth. He needed to have the Wolf in his entirety. He needed Kageyama to be his, and his alone.

Inside the room, Kageyama put his head into his hands, and said, _"Shit."_ He rinsed himself off before pulling his legs out of the water sluggishly, gathering up the rest of the clothes in the corner.

Convictions and universal certainties abandoned Shouyou at the much more frantic realization that Kageyama was about to walk out of the bathhouse and discover he'd been spied upon. He scrambled to his feet and took off in the direction of the cabin, not daring to look behind him until he was safe inside, where he could collapse into the single chair at the table.

When Kageyama entered five minutes later, he tried his best to act as though nothing had happened. The Wolf shut the door behind him and gave him a long, piercing look. Shouyou cleared his throat nervously.

"Shall we go to bed?" he asked. That hadn't sounded suggestive, not at all. But Kageyama just nodded.

"Grey, upstairs," he said to the wolf on the couch. "There's not enough room for both of us on there."

Obediently, Grey leapt down from her sleeping spot. Shouyou cocked his head.

"Where should I sleep?"

"You're taking the bed tonight," Kageyama told him as he sat down.

"What?" Shouyou asked. "Kageyama, don't be stupid. You barely fit on that couch."

"I fit fine," Kageyama said, stretching out with his feet dangling off one end and his head nearly hanging off the other. Shouyou stomped over to him. He would not accept this, not after everything.

"You saved _me_ today, so you take the bed," Shouyou ordered, pulling on his arm. Predictably, the other man did not budge, but did look amused at the effort. "Fine, we'll share it, then!"

"No, we won't." Kageyama blinked at him. "How do you even know it's big enough when you haven't seen it?"

"We'll make it work," Shouyou said, stubbornly. When Kageyama still didn't move, he dropped face down on the floor next to the sofa. Kageyama sighed deeply.

The bed was easily big enough for both of them—it had to be, to accommodate Kageyama, and Shouyou, as tiny as he was, had no trouble fitting in next to him. He tumbled into the sheets with a sigh of relief. Then his bare legs fell against Kageyama's, toes brushing over skin that his nightshirt failed to cover, knees sliding against the Wolf's thighs, and he comprehended exactly the situation he was in and went still.

He was lying with a Wolf. In its bed. After he had let Kageyama scent him, after the entire incident in the baths not fifteen minutes prior, after they had already…  

"And he's realized," Kageyama huffed into the dark room, more to himself than Shouyou.

The Wolf's body was warm next to his, heat radiating off of him. Shouyou could still smell him, though the clean, earthy scent wasn't as intense and overpowering as it was when he'd been wrapped around the dark-haired man, nuzzling into his neck. The memory made him flush.

"I won't do anything," Kageyama said after a moment of silence, annoyed. "Just because—"

"You won't?!" Shouyou squeaked, disappointed, and then cleared his throat. "I mean, I know. I know you wouldn't."

"You've known me a day."

"I can just tell!" Shouyou insisted.

The other man snorted and rolled over, his back to Shouyou.

All Shouyou's thoughts came rushing back to him. Their proximity was making his skin buzz. After a moment, he whispered, "We… we could do something."

It didn't matter that they'd both just come a few minutes ago. In the dark, laying next to Kageyama, the memories were stronger than ever. Those hands on him, how Kageyama felt in him, the way his scent rose off him when he was aroused. Shouyou was ready for it again, was quite sure he could be ready the entire rest of the night, and the following day, with no rest, no stopping. Only Kageyama, to pleasure him over, and over, to have his fill of Shouyou as many times as he wanted. Until they both were finally satisfied.

But Kageyama just said, "Go to sleep."

"I mean, if you don't want to, that's okay, but I really don't mind—"

"I don't want to."

Shouyou blinked. "What?"

"I said I don't want to," responded Kageyama.

"Why not?" Shouyou asked, frowning. He _knew_ that wasn't true. He'd watched Kageyama, he'd needed Shouyou's scent to find his release. "I thought you liked it."

"Hinata," Kageyama finally snapped angrily, forcefully. "Stop asking me to fuck you."

Shouyou sucked in a breath, pulling away in the bed, putting what distance he could between them. He suddenly felt like punching the other man, but the words had been a direct order, and one he couldn't ignore. He settled for squeezing his eyes shut as his face heated up.

It had really seemed as though Kageyama had liked it. He'd told the Wolf, hadn't he? _I want you to like it._

Kageyama sighed, relenting. "Hinata…"

"Sorry, Kageyama."

"You didn't do anything. We just _can't,_ okay?" Kageyama said. "It's not a good idea."

Shouyou bit his lip. "It's not?"

 _"No,"_ Kageyama said emphatically. "You have to… you can't _stay_ here. You have to go back, eventually."

Shouyou curled in on himself, as reality came crashing back in. Of course. Of course he did. And when he got back… "They'll smell you."

"Yeah."

Shouyou nodded. If people found out who the Wolf was that had slept with the prince before the wedding, things would turn ugly. His father would force exile, at the least. He didn't want to think about what his betrothed would do.

"I'm sorry," he said again. "I didn't… really think."

"We both already know you don't think much," Kageyama mumbled.

"You weren't complaining!"

"I didn't know you were a _secret prince,_ idiot!"

"Okay, okay," Shouyou yielded. "I just didn't want you to be mad at me, after everything."

"I'm not mad," Kageyama said. "But I'm tired. So go to sleep."

"Yeah," Shouyou agreed.

Kageyama was quiet for so long Shouyou thought he'd fallen asleep. Then the other man murmured, "Tobio, by the way."

"What?" Shouyou asked, confused.

"If you say you know me so well, you should at least know my given name. It's Tobio."

Shouyou exhaled a quiet, "Oh." Then, "Toh-bee-oh."

"Don't make it weird," Kageyama said. Shouyou giggled.

"Sorry," he said. Into his hands, he said again, very softly, "Tobio." Kageyama sighed. Shouyou remembered, belatedly, that Wolves had exceptional hearing. "Kageyama."

"What, Hinata?" came the slightly exasperated, sleepy voice.

"Goodnight."

Kageyama didn't respond, but Shouyou could hear his breathing become measured and slow next to him, and that was goodnight enough.

*

Shouyou learned many things about Kageyama, over the next two weeks.

He learned that Kageyama was a good hunter—and a kind one. He made sure to kill all his targets with one shot of his crossbow, and nothing of the animal was wasted afterward. The pelts were skinned and cleaned (away from where squeamish Hinata could see him work), the bones were given to Grey, and even the teeth and claws were saved to trade for ornaments—there were people who collected them, he said, though he didn't see the appeal. The meat he salted and stored if he was near to a trading day, but most of it went into their stomachs.

So Shouyou also learned that Kageyama liked to cook. Shouyou had never cooked a day in his life before he came to the cabin. Following his arrival, that count was up to one day in his life, and it was an experience neither of them cared to repeat. Kageyama gave up trying to teach him very quickly, after he'd nearly burned the place down. Now he just cooked for both of them, and it was a special little delight Shouyou felt, every time Kageyama piled his plate high with food he'd made _just for Shouyou,_ handing it to him where he sat. Kageyama would sit next to him now, on the floor or sofa, so he wasn't the only one without a chair.

He learned Kageyama got jealous, easily. His grey wolf loved Shouyou—he was so small that Grey treated him almost like she would a pup, gently roughhousing with him all over the cabin, winding her tail around him during his frequent naps in the grass outside in the sun, latching onto his clothes with her teeth and not letting go until Shouyou started to whine back at her. Eventually, Kageyama would yell at them for being too _loud,_ sulking until Grey came back to his side. So Shouyou began to follow her lead, tagging along after Kageyama playfully or curling up next to him on the sofa if he started to seem moody. Sometimes he liked to think that maybe, just maybe, Kageyama was jealous of Grey stealing Shouyou's attention, and not the other way around.

Kageyama preferred to sleep without a shirt. The bed, the blankets, the sheets, the pillows, all smelled like him, and even after the other man had gotten out of bed to go about his business for the day, Shouyou liked to lie there until the sun came up, warm and comfortable and with his face smashed into the fabric, breathing him in. It was probably, as Kageyama would say, weird. He didn't care. At first, at night, Kageyama slept with his back to Shouyou, but Shouyou slept however he wanted—with their backs pressed together, or with his nose bumping Kageyama's spine.

"What are you doing?" Kageyama had asked him, one of those nights, as Shouyou stroked his palms lightly down his back.

"Making sure I don't forget," Shouyou responded.

"Forget what?"

Shouyou sighed, leaning in close. "Anything about you."

He felt Kageyama stiffen and wondered if he'd said something wrong. But then the other man turned over onto his back, so Shouyou could rest a head on his arm and huddle close.

"Kageyama?" he whispered.

"Go to sleep," Kageyama said.

He didn't turn his back on Shouyou again. That was how he learned that Kageyama, if given the opportunity, was just as prone as Grey was to wrapping his long limbs around Shouyou while he slept, making Shouyou feel warm and safe and happy. He often stayed awake long after Kageyama fell asleep, brushing his fingertips over the other man's nose and cheeks and lips, so that he wouldn't forget those, either. Kageyama didn't wake up, just pulled him closer in his sleep. It made Shouyou light up hot and bright, in ways he never had before meeting the other man—now that he had, though, he felt like a candle that would never burn low, a flame that just danced higher and higher.

So in the middle of learning all these things and more about Kageyama, he had come to learn one thing about himself, without any doubts.

The forest was more dangerous than even his mother had known. He had strayed from the path, and gotten very, very lost.

And he was unmistakably, and quite certainly, falling in love with the Wolf that had found him.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was going to photoshop a horrible book cover for this fic, but there is a _tragic_ lack of romance novel covers with cabins/forests on the front of them. So... please enjoy this _slightly risque_ [Wolf Kageyama](http://esselley.tumblr.com/post/145745151434/the-sight-of-kageyamas-naked-back-made-shouyou) graphic!
> 
> [[@esselley](http://esselley.tumblr.com/) on Tumblr, [@Esselle_hq](https://twitter.com/Esselle_hq) on Twitter]


	3. Chapter 3

Kageyama started acting differently as they entered the third week of Shouyou's stay at the cabin.

Often, he would keep Shouyou as near to him as he could, sitting with their knees touching while they ate, or with his arm draped over him on the couch while Shouyou asked him endless questions about what he had done and seen and who he'd spoken to in the towns he'd visited that day. While he answered, he would run his fingers up and down Shouyou's arm or through his hair, until Shouyou found himself emerging from peaceful, rambling dreams some time later with no memory of having dozed off. But Kageyama was always awake, never ceased the slow, gentle caresses that had lulled him to sleep in the first place. Sometimes, when Shouyou yawned widely and claimed he was too comfortable to move, the other man would carry him up the stairs to bed with Shouyou's arms around him and face pressed into his neck, and it made the Lamb feel more like royalty than he ever had in the castle.

But there were other moments, sometimes hours at a time, when he seemed to want nothing to do with Shouyou at all, becoming sullen and silent. Then the Wolf would push him away like he was annoyed over something, leaving out the door of the cabin and letting it slam behind him, until the late hours of the evening. But he always came home before dinner, and he always made one of Shouyou's favorite meals upon his return. And when they went to bed, the way he breathed out a long, slow sigh into Shouyou's hair as they settled in always felt like something of an apology.

More than once, Shouyou caught him staring when the other man thought he wasn't looking. Usually, this occurred during meal time—he would turn to remark on the food or Kageyama's cooking and find the man in question gazing at him as though lost in thought, the food on his plate sitting untouched as he ran a hand over his mouth. As soon as Shouyou noticed, he seemed to realize what he was doing, turning away abruptly and waving off questions, as though Shouyou was the one acting odd.

They were finishing dinner one evening, the night before the third week would turn to the fourth—and their last together. Kageyama had made a pot of tea (choosing a cup with finely painted, deep blue drawings all over it), and Shouyou was stretched out in front of the fire, facing Grey, who was attempting to lick his face. He warded her off laughingly, until she dropped her ears and whined, and a compromise was reached as he buried his hands in her fur and scratched the top of her head vigorously.

"Maybe they'll never find me," Shouyou murmured to the wolf when she'd finally calmed down, touching his nose to the tip of hers. "And I'll just stay here forever."

There was a high, tinkling crash, the sound of something delicate shattering. Shouyou jerked around to look in the direction of the noise, to see that the cup Kageyama had been drinking from had fallen, the remnants scattered across the floor at his feet.

"Did you drop that?" Shouyou asked, expecting a string of cursing, ready to tease him, before he caught sight of Kageyama's face. The urge to laugh left him abruptly.

The other man was staring down at the shards at his feet, unmoving even to wipe up the tea spreading across the wood floor. His fists were clenched tight, the line of his jaw hard, his eyebrows knit downward.

"Kageyama?" Shouyou sat up, worried. "What is it? Did you really like that one?"

The other man didn't answer and he clambered up off the floor to go to him. He was halfway across the room when Kageyama shoved his chair back and stood. He bent to pick Shouyou up when he got near enough, and Shouyou wrapped his arms around the Wolf tight without a second thought, putting his face into Kageyama's shoulder as the other man held him.

"What's wrong?" Shouyou asked quietly.

Kageyama squeezed him tighter. "Idiot… you're barefoot. You'll get hurt."

Shouyou pulled back to look at him indignantly. "I'm not going to step right on top of it!"

"Not on purpose," Kageyama said, in a tone that implied he was very sure Shouyou would have wandered into the broken porcelain somehow. Cautiously, he set him down onto the bottom stair.

"Now I'm trapped here," Shouyou said, grinning. He wasn't sure what had happened, but he felt he needed to reassure the other man, somehow.

"Good," Kageyama said. "I need to sweep this. Go get into bed, I'll be up soon."

Shouyou waited for him, and when Kageyama finally came up the stairs, he seemed to move faster than usual, stripping his shirt off over his head before crawling into bed and pulling Shouyou to him without preamble. Shouyou could feel the rise and fall of his chest, warm breath on the back of his neck.

"Are you sure you're okay?" he asked the other man. He felt him nod.

"Just tired today," Kageyama said. He slid a hand under Shouyou's shirt, resting it low on his belly to trail his fingertips over the skin there, and Shouyou's heartbeat quickened. But the Wolf did nothing more, other than murmur, "Sleep."

So Shouyou slept.

But later that night, he woke abruptly. He felt hot under the covers, the hair on the back of his neck curling damply against his skin, body sticky with sweat. It was utterly quiet. What had woken him up?

"Kageyama?" he mumbled sleepily, but there was no response from the other man. It couldn't be helping how overheated he felt, to have the Wolf pressed so close to his back, arms wrapped tight around him, but he didn't pull away. Instead, he leaned back, huddling closer to the warm body behind him, and Kageyama sighed into his hair.

And slowly rolled his hips forward, and sighed again. Shouyou froze. There was something very large, and very hard, pushing against the curve of his ass. He was beginning to figure out what had caused him to wake.

"Kage… yama…?" he whispered.

"Hinata…" Kageyama breathed in response, rocking his hips again, a slight, lazy little rhythm building. Shouyou felt his entire body rousing in response, stomach twisting over itself, heart beating faster.

"Are you awake?" he asked. There was no answer, this time, and he leaned his head back to try and look at the other man. His stomach flipped—Kageyama was obviously fast asleep, eyes closed, hair mussed and sticking up on one side from sleeping on it. He pushed his hips forward into Shouyou again, and again, and his mouth fell open, breaths coming faster. He whined low, murmuring soft, nearly indiscernible words, but Shouyou could hear, over and over:

"Hinata… Hinata…" His name was being whispered, soft and gentle and so different than the way Kageyama almost always sounded when he was awake, except in those rare moments when he seemed to stare at Shouyou just a little too long and forget that he was always pretending to be mad at something. Still asleep, he dropped his head into Shouyou's neck and breathed in deep and mumbled, "…feel so good, Hinata—"

Shouyou laid his head back, staring blankly, not seeing anything but the lights whiting out his vision at the sheer pleasure of hearing the words. It was stunning, how quickly the other man could take him apart, without even being aware of it. More stunning still was how overwhelmingly _amazing_ it made Shouyou feel. "I'll be good for you," he promised, unthinkingly. "Kageyama, I'll be so, so good for you—"

Kageyama groaned against Shouyou's neck as he rubbed against him, dragging his cock up and down the cleft of Shouyou's ass, and Shouyou had never before loathed the mere _idea_ of clothing as much as he did just then. He dropped a hand down, slipped it into his underwear, thumbed firmly over the head of his own leaking cock before covering his mouth with his other hand. He didn't want to make noise—what if Kageyama woke up and was angry with him? But it wasn't fair, not when he wanted the other man so badly, and had for so long. Not when he could feel Kageyama whispering his name and thrusting helplessly against him.

Like this, he could almost believe he had what he desired, as he moved his hand over himself in quick, frantic strokes, pushing his hips back to match the way Kageyama rocked up into him, gasping silently in tandem with the Wolf's rough breathing.

And then, a voice spoke against his skin, a quiet, _"Shouyou."_

He cried out in surprise against his palm, and suddenly strong hands were rolling him over, pinning him against the bed on his back, and he was looking up into dark, blue eyes he could barely see in the blackness of the room, and _oh,_ Kageyama was awake, now.

 _"No,_ " Kageyama rasped out, and the single word was all frustration and anger.

"Just _finish,_ " Shouyou said, voice breaking. "I won't even move, just finish with me."

The other man shook his head like he was trying to clear it. _"Dammit—"_

"Kageyama—" Shouyou begged, unable to stop his own hips from rolling upward weakly, seeking out the other man's presence, his warmth. "Kageyama, _please._ "

Kageyama let out a strangled noise, and then he was yanking Shouyou's hands over his head, lowering his large body down over him, and they slid together, rubbing against one another through layers of fabric. Shouyou moaned, moaned Kageyama's name out over and over into the heat and the dark. He couldn't move, he had promised he wouldn't, but he needed the Wolf to _know._

It was killing him, not being able to have Kageyama like he wanted. Kageyama was going to kill him.

Kageyama kept one hand tight against his wrists, the other flat on the bed next to them as he rutted against Shouyou, sliding their cocks together through clothes that were too much, too restricting. Shouyou kept his hips still, somehow, focused all his attention on how Kageyama felt, thick and hard against him, body heavy over his, how the moonlight was just enough that he could make out the lines of his broad shoulders and muscled chest and strong arms. The dark-haired man was trying to stay silent, and whatever sounds did escape him were trapped and desperate, like he was choking them back, trying to restrain himself like he had been ever since that first night.

Shouyou spread his legs wider and Kageyama growled at him. "Don't move. Don't—"

"I'm sorry," Shouyou gasped, but the way Kageyama's voice sounded in its rough commands to him pushed him close, too close. "I just want you again, please let me _have_ you—"

Kageyama shifted off him and Shouyou let out a distraught sob, but the Wolf dragged him upright, lifting him off the bed. He was pulled into the larger man's lap, wrists still trapped behind him in Kageyama's grasp as he settled his other hand at Shouyou's waist, gripping him tight.

"You stay still," Kageyama breathed. "This is just—this isn't—"

He forced Shouyou's hips forward easily to grind against him, holding back another groan. Shouyou let his head fall back, but didn't move, let Kageyama control the way they rocked together—and that was nearly as good as doing it himself, or maybe better, because the Wolf was pleasuring them both, setting the rhythm, the pace of their bodies.

But Kageyama had said to stay still, not quiet.

"What _is_ it, then?" Shouyou murmured into the air of the room they shared. When Kageyama didn't answer, he kept on. "Should I tell you?"

"Don't—" Kageyama started to say, and Shouyou cut him off before he could complete the order.

"It's _good,"_ Shouyou breathed. "You're _so_ good. I want to taste you, I want to be full of you—"

"Shut up," Kageyama said, even as he tightened his grip on Shouyou's wrists, hips slamming forward in a bruising thrust, his movements becoming erratic and hard. "It's just because I'm—"

Shouyou raised his head to look at the other man, not wanting to hear any more excuses. He didn't want to be wearing these stupid clothes, didn't want to be rubbing against each other through layers no matter how hard and big Kageyama felt against him. He wanted Kageyama in him, he wanted to know what it was like, to feel the Wolf shudder and spill within him. Kageyama was watching him, seemed unable to look away; when their eyes met, Shouyou couldn't stop the moan that poured out of him. _"Come inside me."_

"Stop," Kageyama begged. It was not an order. Shouyou didn't have to heed it. He leaned forward until he was close enough for Kageyama to claim his lips, but the Wolf just kept staring, eyes wide and fixated upon him.

"I'll let you do… _anything_ to me," Shouyou whispered, voice shaking.

Kageyama squeezed his eyes shut and tipped his head back, mouth open, gasping. The silver moonlight caressed his throat as he shuddered, hips jerking as he finished silently. And Shouyou followed, orgasm wrenched from his body at how perfect Kageyama looked, at the thought that Kageyama was as caught up on his words as he was on the Wolf's voice, his dark eyes, the scent of the woods that lingered on his skin.

Kageyama released his hands and Shouyou reached out immediately, wanting to wrap the dark-haired man up and keep him close. But he was brushed off as Kageyama climbed out of the bed.

"Where are you going?" Shouyou asked.

"Going to sleep downstairs," Kageyama said. "Too hot up here."

The words were like a slap in the face. "Kageyama, wait!"

The Wolf paused at the top of the stairs, but didn't turn.

"Don't… don't _go,_ " Shouyou pleaded. He wanted to ask him not to start pulling away _now,_ not when they barely had any time left. But maybe he had pushed it too far tonight, maybe he should have woken the other man up when it had started instead of silently going along with it. "I'm sorry, I won't—"

"You're _sorry?"_ Kageyama asked quietly. "For what?"

"For… for not waking you up sooner, I guess?" Shouyou answered, confused.

"That's it?" Kageyama turned, sharply, and Shouyou recoiled. "That's all you're apologizing for?"

"What else am I supposed to be sorry for?" Shouyou asked.

"Oh, I don't know," Kageyama snapped. "Maybe _everything_ since you got here in the _first place?"_

Shouyou clenched his fists in the sheets, not understanding. "What do you mean? Why would you—"

"You _lied_ to me, Hinata!" Kageyama shouted. _Shouted._ Shouyou scrambled back from him, pressing his back to the wall. He had seen Kageyama irritated, frustrated, exasperated—but never outright angry, not furious, like this. It made something unpleasantly small and instinctual and buried deep within him want to run or hide, but all he could do was stare, absolutely frozen, as the Wolf's rage broke over him. "You keep lying to me about _everything!"_

"I didn't—I'm _not—_ " Shouyou tried to say, but Kageyama overrode him.

"You didn't tell me who you were, but you asked me to fuck you—maybe that would have been fine, if you were just some Lamb who wandered in from the cold, but you're _not!_ You're a prince, you're _engaged,_ you belong to _someone else—_ and we can't—"

"I don't belong to anyone!" Shouyou yelped, angrily.

"Well, you definitely don't belong to _me!"_ Kageyama yelled. "You just want to get back at him, because you're _angry,_ but you can't just _do that_ to people! It doesn't matter if you're special, and they're a nobody! You can't just use me to make yourself feel better and then _leave!"_

Shouyou shook his head, stunned. "That's not what I'm doing." It wasn't, anymore.

"It's not?" Kageyama demanded. "Tell me the truth, Hinata. Are you going to leave?"

Shouyou hated having to think about it. What other choice did he have, if he'd already been given to someone else? But the simple truth hurt too much to admit aloud. "No, I'm not—"

"Stop _LYING TO ME!"_ Kageyama roared at him, and Shouyou cried out and shoved his hands over his ears, feeling tears flow hot over his cheeks as he drew his knees up tight to his chest. Anger of his own welled inside of him, resentment at the accusations, but worst of all—he was afraid, without being able to help it. He didn't like this, he didn't like it when Kageyama was like this, he hated being scared of him—

Hands covered his own and he flinched away, but then they were on his face, brushing away the wetness on his cheeks, and he opened his blurry eyes.

"I'm sorry," Kageyama murmured, face close to his own. His blue eyes were large and shocked. "I'm _so_ sorry, I— _fuck._ I didn't mean to—" He sighed, the breath trembling as it left him. "It's okay. It's all okay, none of this is your fault. Go to sleep, okay? Just go to sleep." He backed away, slowly, making no sudden movements as Shouyou's wide, wet eyes followed him all the way out the door before he closed it behind him.

Shouyou drew the blanket up to his face and yelled into it at the top of his lungs, so loudly that he felt sick, all of his building fury too much for his small body to bear. He yelled and yelled until his voice was gone, and he was shouting nothing but hoarse whispers.

Then he broke down and finally wept, burying himself in the bedding that still smelled of the only person in the world he'd ever wanted and couldn't have, long into the early hours of the morning.

*

He woke out of a restless sleep to the sun already risen and a quiet knock on the door. He stared at it, eyes and limbs heavy.

"What?" he called out, voice scratchy, sore throat making him wince.

"I… brought you breakfast," Kageyama said, muffled. "I'm going to leave it right here—"

"Open the damn door," Shouyou said, irritably. He was exhausted, and angry, and upset—he didn't feel like raising his voice to be heard through a heavy slab of wood.

With a creak, the door swung open. Kageyama stood there, eyes downcast, holding a plate full of food in one hand and a glass of some kind of juice in the other. He looked like Shouyou felt, eyes tired, face pale and drawn, mouth a pronounced frown.

"You didn't sleep, either," Shouyou observed. Kageyama glanced up at him, briefly, before looking away again, and his chest tightened. The other man was hunching in on himself, trying to avoid eye contact—he was trying to keep from displaying any signs of dominance. "Kageyama…"

Kageyama shook his head, looking like he wanted to say something, but didn't know how. Finally, he muttered at the floor, "Can I… can I come in?"

Shouyou blinked. "It's your room." Kageyama glanced at him again and he sighed. "Yes."

The other man approached him slowly, and Shouyou sat up to watch him as he made his way to the bed, settling himself cross-legged on the floor in front of it. It was low enough, and he tall enough, that Shouyou sat only a little higher up than him.

"Are you hungry?" Kageyama asked. Shouyou nodded. The other man pushed a plate into his hands, piled high with eggs and bacon and sausages, and wild, fresh fruit that had obviously just been picked. Kageyama must have been out in the dark, to have these so early. "I—maybe I made too much," Kageyama mumbled. "I just wanted to—"

"Say sorry?" Shouyou guessed.

"Yeah," the other man nodded miserably. "I could—I _heard_ you. You cried all night."

All of Shouyou's anger evaporated at the look on the dark-haired man's face. He chewed on his lower lip before leaning forward, eyes wide. Kageyama shrank back. "You were really scary," Shouyou told him.

"I know."

"Like, _bwaaah,_ I thought my heart was gonna stop!"

"I _know,"_ Kageyama said, insistently. "I just—I got mad and—"

"Kageyama," Shouyou interrupted, "I don't _want_ to leave. I _don't."_

Kageyama stopped mid-sentence, staring at him, his eyes locking onto Shouyou's. Shouyou stared back, not intimidated. He could stare into those dark eyes as long as Kageyama wanted to hold his gaze.

"You don't want me to leave, either," Shouyou told him, quietly.

Kageyama's expression crumbled as he shook his head, no, and Shouyou set the plate on the bed next to him, leaned the rest of the way forward, and put his arms around the other man's neck.

"You're an ass," Shouyou informed him affectionately.

"So are you," Kageyama said thickly into his shoulder. "I wish you'd never found me."

"Do you really?"

"Of course not really, idiot."

Shouyou hugged him even tighter. "I'm sorry, too, you know. I don't want to leave, but I don't know what else I'm supposed to do."

"Hinata," Kageyama said, "is it okay if I touch you?" His arms were still hanging limp by his sides.

"It's always been okay," Shouyou said, smiling.

Kageyama wrapped him up immediately, strong, warm arms folding around him, and Shouyou sighed, feeling more content and calm and reassured than he ever had in his life. The other man rubbed a hand over his back, threading fingers into his hair, holding him tight.

"Sorry," Kageyama said.

"Stop it," Shouyou told him. "It's weird for you to apologize."

"It's not weird," Kageyama grumbled.

"Yeah, it is, you're always annoyed at me for no reason and then you act like you were right all along—" Kageyama growled low, and stuck his nose in Shouyou's neck, and Shouyou laughed at him. "See, even you admit it."

"Do you want breakfast or not?"

"I do," Shouyou said. "Can you sit up here? This is starting to get uncomfortable."

Kageyama climbed into the bed next to him, sitting with his back against the wall. Shouyou turned to face him, sliding a leg over the other man's hip and crawling into his lap. They stared at each other.

"Do you…" Kageyama started to say. "Do you really like it here? Even though it's so small?"

Shouyou tilted his head. "Yes."

"And we don't have a lot of nice things to eat?"

"Your cooking is the best I've ever had," Shouyou said honestly. Kageyama's cheeks went pink.

"And it's just… me? Me and Grey?" he asked uncertainly.

Shouyou brushed his hands over the other man's shoulders, running them down over his chest slowly. "That's the best part."

The Wolf ducked his head, closing his eyes. Shouyou waited quietly as he took a deep, steady breath. Finally, Kageyama raised his eyes to look at him again. "Breakfast?"

Shouyou smiled. "Feed me?"

Kageyama blinked at him.

"I had a difficult night, Kageyama, no thanks to a certain someone," Shouyou reminded him, puffing his cheeks out. "Do you really want me to exert myself further?"

Kageyama sighed and shook his head. "This is why I didn't want to get involved with a prince."

Shouyou opened his mouth expectantly. Kageyama sighed again, and dutifully popped a strawberry into his mouth. Shouyou cocked his head as he began to eat it—the tart, sweet juices burst over his tongue, and for a moment, he forgot about being coy, eyes fluttering closed as he made a small noise of delight. "Hmm…"

"Is it good?" Kageyama asked softly.

"Yeah…"

Kageyama pressed another piece of the red fruit to his lips and Shouyou parted them automatically. He felt fingers and poked his tongue out to graze over them, licking them clean of juice before taking a bite of the fruit.

A warm hand cupped his cheek, a thumb brushed over his lips. And then Kageyama leaned forward, leaned into him, and put his own mouth to Shouyou's, soft and barely there.

Shouyou froze as Kageyama swiped his tongue over the juice on his lips, wet, hot, pressing their mouths more firmly together before pulling away again. It had all taken three seconds, at most.

He felt like the entire world was coming apart around him. It was the first time they had kissed, and _Kageyama_ had kissed _him._

"I wanted to taste," Kageyama told him, not specifying if he meant the strawberries, or the stunned, melting Lamb in his arms. "It was good."

Shouyou fell forward onto his chest, breathing too fast, fingers clutching his shirt and curling tight into the fabric.

"Hinata?" Kageyama asked, alarmed.

"I don't want to leave here," Shouyou whispered fiercely, feeling elated and scared and angry, all at once. "I don't want to leave you."

The Wolf combed fingers through his hair, cheek resting on top of Shouyou's head, holding him as tight as he could.

"I know that now," he said. "I know. It'll be okay."

"It _won't,"_ Shouyou choked. "How—"

"Because I said it will be," Kageyama told him. "You remember the morning after we met, you asked me why I live out here?"

"You never answered me," Shouyou said quietly.

Kageyama took a deep breath. "I can't—I need this. The woods, and the air, and the… just the space. That's why I helped you. It's my… I think it would be the worst thing that could ever happen, for someone to take it away from me. Or it was, I guess."

"It's not anymore?"

"No," Kageyama shook his head. "Someone taking _you_ away from me, doing that to you—that's worse. That's a lot worse. So I'll _make_ this okay, somehow."

And Shouyou believed him. He nodded, rubbing his face against Kageyama's chest, letting the Wolf's scent calm him.

"Come on," Kageyama said, coaxing him out. "Eat more. I didn't pick all of these for you to start crying and ignore them."

"I'm not crying," Shouyou pouted, wiping his eyes and sitting up again, mouth already open wide.

Kageyama shook his head. "Spoiled," he said, and proceeded to stay with Shouyou all the way through breakfast, hand fed him every single thing on the plate, and wiped his small pink mouth and nose clean with his own shirt ("Eww, Kageyama").

And he buried his face in Shouyou's flyaway red hair, pulling him in close and sitting like that for what felt like hours, and not nearly long enough at all. He breathed the Lamb's scent in long and deep, before he left to go into the forest to hunt and gather firewood for the day.

Morning faded into a typical quiet, lazily sunny late afternoon, as evening started to come on. Shouyou fell asleep on the sofa for most of it, exhausted after the tumultuous night before. When he woke, and Kageyama still wasn't back, he wandered up the stairs of the cabin, searching for Grey. The wolf wasn't on either floor, and he paused at the window by the bed, thinking he might see her outside.

Instead, he saw Kageyama in the clearing, chopping firewood. This was a regular occurrence; he must have come in and found Shouyou sleeping, but hadn't wanted to wake him. Shouyou started to turn away from the window, when Kageyama laid down his axe to pull his shirt off over his head, using it to wipe the sweat from his face. His bare arms were tan up to the line where his sleeves normally ended, where the skin paled slightly. He wiped the back of his neck, too, before tossing the shirt aside.

Shouyou sat on the bed, staring out the window. The sun shining through it felt hotter on his skin than usual. Resting his chin on his hands, he kept watching Kageyama, drinking in the sight of him as he worked, thinking about the way Kageyama watched _him._ Shouyou was able to tell, always, when Kageyama's eyes were on him by the way it made his skin hum with pleasure.

Complete and total pleasure, and it had only gotten stronger, every day. He wanted more than just Kageyama's _eyes_ on him. The thought of the kiss this morning, as brief and innocent as it had been, flooded his mind.

Kageyama picked up the axe again, and Shouyou leaned forward, teeth worrying his bottom lip. He liked it, that one motion, the way Kageyama's long fingers encircled the smooth handle, the way he wrapped his hands firmly around it, squeezing it as he lifted it over his head.

He brought the axe down, splitting the log cleanly in half, and Shouyou let out an involuntary whimper as Kageyama's muscles rippled, shoulders and abs tightening with the force of the downswing. He wanted to feel them, those muscles, underneath his fingers—not while Kageyama was asleep, but when he was awake, and _watching_ Shouyou in that quiet, intense way he had.

Shouyou squirmed, rubbing his thighs together, and realized he was hard between his legs, the backs of his thighs wet. He shouldn't, he really shouldn't, but every part of him felt so _hot._ Outside, Kageyama set up another log, the axe came flying down, his body gleamed with sweat—

Shouyou slipped out of his loose-fitted pants, hand trailing down over his stomach. His eyes stayed fixed on Kageyama as he brushed his fingertips over his cock. He let out a little, tiny noise of satisfaction, and again, louder, as he took himself in hand, focusing on the way Kageyama's hands slid on and off the handle as he set up each piece of wood.

He wanted those hands on him again, all over him, rough and bruising or soft and gentle, it didn't matter. He would take them on his cock or gripping his hips, fingers in his mouth or sliding into his wet, ready entrance—he shuddered, needing that _now,_ more than just fingers.

He let his eyes trace the long lines of Kageyama's legs, his slim hips that Shouyou knew were still strong, like the rest of him. Shouyou wanted to sit on them, feel them bucking up underneath him. He wanted Kageyama to fill him, hard and without preparation, he didn't want to _wait,_ he wanted to feel the sting of it. When he pressed two fingers inside himself, it wasn't nearly enough. Not compared to how big Kageyama felt— _would_ feel, if he let Shouyou take him in again.

The fingers of his free hand scrabbled along the glass of the window as he began to thrust slowly inside himself, pulling one of his knees up onto the ledge of the windowsill to spread his legs further apart. His breath fogged the glass as he panted, head fuzzy, staring through it and wishing he could reach through to the man in the clearing, wanting to touch him again now that he knew he wouldn't completely break the fragile thing they shared between them, that he would have to give up, in just a few days' time.

He leaned his forehead against the window, eyes blurring, scissoring his fingers inside himself. "Kageyama," he whispered, and then he ground his hips down on his hand and imagined it wasn't his, and the next time he called out for the man outside the window, it was not quiet, or demure, or anything but open and demanding and wanton. _"Please—"_

He was loud, and the Wolf's head snapped up, and too late Shouyou remembered, _better hearing._ He pushed away from the window just in time, and when he looked back, Kageyama was lining up another log on the chopping block. He breathed out, backing away, crawling onto the bed on his knees. Like that, with his thighs spread wide, he could feel the soft sheets rubbing against his slick, sensitive skin and aching cock. He moaned as he bent low, sliding his face into the pillows.

His senses were immediately filled with Kageyama, his scent, traces of mist-wet grass in the morning, wood pines but wilder, more intense, making his head swim. There was something so grounding about the other man, something that made the anxiety and dread that had slowly crept over Shouyou since his life had been bartered away bearable. Out in this secret place that only Shouyou seemed to have discovered, Kageyama made him feel not just safe—not just valuable—but _invaluable_. Not a commodity, not a Lamb. Human.

It made him desperate, to lie with Kageyama again and know him in all the intimate ways Shouyou craved, both with his body and his heart. And to have the other man return the favor.

Shouyou wanted all of him again, and more, before he had to leave this behind, and he curled his fingers, brushing against the sensitive spot inside himself that made him shove his face in the pillow and shake with the force of his cries, bringing him dangerously close to the edge.

The sound of the cabin door opening and closing made him freeze, before jolting upright.

"Hinata," called a voice up the stairs, "are you up there?"

His heart thudded in his chest. He had not thought this through, not at all. Not when he had sent Kageyama into a near panic the night before trying to have him before he was ready—and now Shouyou had failed to hold back, once again.

The sheets were covered in pre-cum and slick from his arousal, it was all over the bottom of his shirt, he was red from head to toe—frantically, he pulled the rest of his clothes off and glanced around the room. One of Kageyama's dark green shirts lay discarded in a corner—he snatched it up, throwing it over his head. It was large enough on him that it fell to his thighs.

"Hinata?"

"Com—coming!" he stammered, gathering the sheets up in a ball and clambering down the stairs. Kageyama was sitting on the couch, arms stretched over the back. His eyes were closed and his head tilted, the long column of his throat exposed—and he was still shirtless. "You finished early today!" Shouyou said, his voice higher than normal, even to his own ears.

"Hmm," Kageyama agreed. His hair fell off his forehead, with the way his head was tilted. Shouyou longed to brush his fingers through it, to hide in the crook of Kageyama's neck and press kisses into his skin, and he felt another pang low and deep and throbbing in his stomach.

Kageyama's eyes slid open, and he looked over at Shouyou, frozen on the stairs, pile of blankets in his arms. "What are you doing?"

"I, um," Shouyou said, "I was going to wash these."

"I washed them a few nights ago," Kageyama reminded him. "Plus, it's nearly dark."

"Oh, is it?" Shouyou asked, like there wasn't a large window right behind the sofa, directly where he was looking. Kageyama raised his head.

He fixed Shouyou with a stare that made his knees weaken.

"Come to me," Kageyama murmured. He sounded so calm, so in control, everything Shouyou could feel fleeing his own person at the moment. He padded down the rest of the steps, crossing the room until he was hovering nervously in front of Kageyama. The other man reached forward and pulled the blankets out of his arms. They unraveled as they fell to the floor, and Kageyama took a deep breath as they came undone. Shouyou tried hard not to stare at the wet staining the fabric, clearly visible in the loose pile on the floor.

"Whose shirt is that?" Kageyama asked, as though it wasn't incredibly obvious.

"Yours…" Shouyou mumbled.

"Why are you wearing my clothes, Hinata?"

"I need… I told you that we need to wash some stuff…"

"You do realize," Kageyama cut him off, in a low growl, "that I can _tell_ what you've been doing?"

Shouyou jerked his eyes to Kageyama's face. The other man was watching him, his cheeks flushed and eyes lidded. Shouyou's stomach knotted painfully just looking at him.

"Kageyama—"

Kageyama reached out, fingers curling over his wrist. "You were watching me, from the window."

"You saw?" Shouyou choked out.

"I _heard,"_ Kageyama said, and pulled him forward, into his lap.

Though this was undoubtedly where he wanted to be, Shouyou stared at him, thoroughly embarrassed. "How easy is it for you to… hear…?"

Kageyama glanced away. "Remember the first night I tried to show you how to use the bath?"

Shouyou gasped. "Kageyama—you never said _anything—"_

"Of course I didn't," Kageyama said. "That would have meant admitting I knew you were there the whole time." He let his hand drift low on Shouyou's back as the Lamb mouthed wordlessly at him—it did not take him long to discover Shouyou wasn't wearing anything under the borrowed shirt. He huffed. "You're so difficult."

"So are you!" Shouyou said, feeling his own irritation mounting in tandem with the coiling heat in his belly. Kageyama was the most difficult person he'd ever known. Here he was, pulling Shouyou closer to him, the perspiration on his naked skin making his scent rise to intoxicating levels, and he had the nerve to call Shouyou difficult.

"You're getting that 'little prince' look on your face," Kageyama told him.

"I don't have a 'little prince' look," Shouyou said.

"You _are_ one. So, yes, you do," Kageyama said. He leaned forward, and the tip of his nose brushed Shouyou's cheek. "I could hear you calling for me. You were, weren't you?"

Shouyou felt his cheeks heat up. He glared as hard as he could. "It's because I—because you _kissed_ me earlier, and it's not my fault I couldn't stop thinking about it, and I didn't want you to get mad again, so I had to—"

"I know," Kageyama murmured. "I can smell it."

"Smell—" Shouyou started to say, and broke off as fingers brushed over the bare skin of his inner thighs, where he was still wet.

"Here," Kageyama said. "This."

"O-oh," Shouyou gasped, his irritation cut dramatically down to size. Kageyama dragged his fingers through the wetness lingering on Shouyou's skin before bringing his hand to his mouth, to suck his fingers clean. Shouyou's eyes threatened to roll back into his head with the wave of heat that rocked him. "Don't do that."

"Why not?" Kageyama asked, hand trailing back down between his thighs. He had the barest trace of a smile on his face. Shouyou got the distinct impression he was being toyed with, like Kageyama was playing with his food.

"It's not— _fair—"_ Shouyou twisted his head, eyes closed, trying to fight the temptation. "It's not fair, not when I want you this much. Not when we can't—" He broke off as Kageyama pushed the green shirt high up on his body, hands running over his stomach, exposing his skin to the cool air.

He lost the power to speak entirely when the other man pulled him up against his chest, skin sliding against skin. "Forget I said all that, okay?" Kageyama breathed in his ear as he pushed two fingers into Shouyou, all the way inside of him, as deep as he could go. "Just forget it."

Shouyou forgot it, instantly. He arched his back, mouth dropping open, and clenched down around Kageyama's fingers as he grabbed handfuls of his smooth, dark hair. His breath came in startled gasps as he struggled to wrap his mind around what was happening through the surge of sudden, intense pleasure.

"You can move," Kageyama told him, between soft kisses upon his skin, his shoulder, his throat and neck. "You can do whatever you want. I have you."

Shouyou shuddered in gratitude, in relief, in rapture. He bore down on Kageyama, rocking his hips into the other man's hand, pressing as close to him as he could get so he could rub his cock into the firm, hard stomach against him. He'd needed this. He'd needed this _so badly._

"Hinata, _yes,_ " Kageyama's voice thrummed against him when he spoke, lips dragging over his skin. "Let me give you this. You've been _so_ good."

Shouyou found he couldn't breathe. He wondered if he'd survive this, and decided that if he was to meet his end here, it would be more than worth it. "More," he demanded, the word coming out slurred, delirious from heat. "More, more, _more—"_

Kageyama slipped a third finger inside him and the stretch was overwhelming. Shouyou pulled Kageyama by the hair to guide his mouth to one of his nipples, throwing his head back as the Wolf immediately began to suck on the tender flesh, closing his teeth gently around it before running his tongue over the peak.

"Hands—" Shouyou tried to say. "Need—"

He felt Kageyama's other hand, big and calloused and warm, stroke his back before curving around to his belly, fingers grazing over his skin, sliding up the planes of his stomach and chest before tweaking at his other nipple, and he mewled, slamming his hips down as Kageyama started thrusting the fingers of his other hand in and out, fast and unrelenting. Yes, that was exactly what he wanted, Kageyama _knew what he wanted_ —he wanted those amazing hands, anywhere, everywhere. Kageyama curled his fingers inside Shouyou and Shouyou twisted his fists into his hair as hard as he could.

The hand moved away from Shouyou's chest and he pulled on the other man's hair in protest, but Kageyama shushed him. The next moment, his hand was back on Shouyou, but this time—

Shouyou dropped his head down to look, to watch as Kageyama pushed down the waistband of his pants so Shouyou could see him, flushed red and stiff and huge, wanting Shouyou just as much as the Lamb wanted him. And then he had it, as Kageyama wrapped a hand around both their cocks, and he felt himself coming apart. He rocked up into Kageyama's hand, sliding against silky, hot skin, felt Kageyama's fingers rubbing inside him where he needed it most, and knew he was almost there.

"Kageyama—" he gasped. "Can you—"

"Whatever you want," the dark-haired man said.

Shouyou shivered, and told him, "Take me. Make him smell you on me— _in_ me."

Kageyama went still against him, inside him, and Shouyou prayed he hadn't pushed too far. But then the Wolf leaned close to murmur, low and with heated intent, into his ear. "Then can you wait, little Lamb?"

"For what?" Shouyou asked, breathless.

"For when I need you the most?" Kageyama asked him, and then he curled his fingers slowly, _dragging_ across the little bundle of nerves and sensation inside of Shouyou. "When I can't stop myself from devouring you?"

Shouyou cried out, a sound that was high and nearly weeping, because he wanted that so, so terribly. Then his hips moved unbidden, undulating so deeply the motion felt beautifully obscene, as he spilled himself all over both of them. Kageyama's name was on his lips as Shouyou slicked their cocks with cum, and the other man worked his hand over them faster, breaths coming out ragged and hard. Shouyou leaned in, feeling dazed, and so _satisfied._

"Kiss," he said, a soft command, and Kageyama gazed at him with unfocused eyes before surging forward to capture his mouth in a bruising, dizzying press of lips that was nothing like the one from that morning. Shouyou raked his fingers through the other man's hair, not wanting him to pull away again, ever.

"…going to give you everything," Kageyama panted against his lips. "You _can't_ leave—"

Shouyou kissed him again, heart beating so fast it felt like it might burst. "Make me yours. Make me _yours._ "

Kageyama froze up again, shaking, before he groaned into Shouyou's mouth, coming in thick spurts all over his stomach and chest. Shouyou wanted to lean in, to lick it up, to taste him all over. Instead, he whispered, "I'm not going anywhere," as Kageyama pressed his face into his neck, breathing hard and warm against his skin while Shouyou held him.

The past few days suddenly made sense. The moodiness, the sudden lapse in control. The way Shouyou was so attuned to him, wanted to offer himself up for consumption, and the way Kageyama needed him in return. The other man had even tried to tell him, with little success, during the incident the night before.

Kageyama's _heat._ It must be _close._ And the Wolf had been starved too long.

"Kageyama," he said, patting the other man's face adoringly to get his attention. Kageyama turned his head lazily to look at him, breathing slowing, and Shouyou nodded. "I'll wait. I want this with _you."_

And Kageyama smiled at him, slow, and with teeth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Desire, I'm hungry  
> I hope you feed me  
> [How do you want me](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Agul5xTnqdY)
> 
> \--
> 
> Two songs for this fic :D
> 
> [[@esselley](http://esselley.tumblr.com/) on Tumblr, [@Esselle_hq](https://twitter.com/Esselle_hq) on Twitter]


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you [Ellessey](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Ellessey/works#_=_) so, so much for being my second set of eyes on this fic—and to everyone who carried on through to the end of this tale ♡

Kageyama had yet to shower after the day's work, and Shouyou had made quite a mess of himself while watching him from the window (and the Wolf had made a bigger mess of him during what came after), and so it was decided a bath was in order.

It probably required a great deal of skill and balance to get a bath drawn with Shouyou so unwilling to part from his side, but Kageyama managed it without a word of complaint. He filled the sunken wooden tub in between constant kisses, looking only slightly bemused at having to stop every few minutes when the Lamb tugged him downward yet again to run fingers through his hair and brush their lips together. He only growled once, while lighting the fire to heat the bath, and Shouyou got too close to the flames trying to be near him—the Wolf pulled him to a safe distance, gathering him up in his arms with a glare.

"Be careful," he ordered.

"Kiss me," Shouyou countered, grinning at him.

Kageyama glared harder, eyebrows knitting, before he ducked his head to fit his lips against Shouyou's, coaxing his mouth open easily to slip his tongue inside. Shouyou hummed, pleased. There were so many different types of kisses, he was learning, and he wanted to try them all. It was very possible he would never be able to do that, not when Kageyama kept showing him something new every time, and in such short order—the light brush of lips over strawberries for breakfast that morning; the heavy rush of shared breathing as they spilled wet over each other's warm skin; and now this, slow and learning, the inquisitive slide of tongue and gentle tug of teeth against his lower lip.

"Ah," Shouyou sighed, as Kageyama pressed another small kiss to the corner of his mouth. "I like it. I like how you kiss."

"Have you ever kissed anyone before?" Kageyama asked, head tilted.

"No," Shouyou said. "Only you."

The other man pressed his lips together tightly, something he did whenever he was trying not to smile. It never quite worked.

"What, do you like that?" the prince teased him.

Kageyama looked shiftily to the side. His ears were turning red. "No, I don't really care."

"Are you sure?" Shouyou asked. "Like how you didn't care about being the first person to get inside me?" He smirked as that dark head of hair whipped back around to face him. "Don't lie, Wolf. You want all of me to yourself."

Dark eyes flashed, and the next thing he knew he was being held tight against Kageyama's chest, one of the Wolf's hands on his throat, thumb stroking over his skin. "You're wrong," Kageyama whispered in his ear. "There's no reason to want something that's already mine."

It wasn't fair, Shouyou thought, as Kageyama pulled the overlarge green shirt off of him, hands sliding slowly over his whole body, leaving him naked and shivering, already growing hard. It wasn't fair how little effort it took for Kageyama to wreck him completely.

The other man undressed, taking his time—he must have been very aware of Shouyou's eyes on him as he stepped out of his clothes, pulling his shirt off over his head to stand bare before him, letting Shouyou drink in the sight of him. They hadn't been completely unclothed or bathed together since the second night of Shouyou's stay, nearly one full month ago.

Shouyou reached out and put his hands flat on Kageyama's stomach, palms pressed to the smooth expanse of warm skin exposed before him. Kageyama had to be aware of how much he had thought of doing this—just touching him. The thought made him blush, and he snuck his gaze upward to glance at the Wolf's face.

Kageyama was watching him, his expression mesmerized. Shouyou flushed hotter, biting his lip as he darted his glance away, feeling dirty, somehow.

"Now you're shy?" Kageyama asked.

"It's not that," Shouyou mumbled.

"Then?" He put his fingers under Shouyou's chin to tilt his face up, so their eyes met. His expression was serious, earnest.

"You look at me like that and—" Shouyou blurted. "It's all soft and nice but I just want to—to do really _bad_ things to you, all the time, and—"

Kageyama blinked and then— _laughed_ at him _._ "Bad?"

"Yes, like, like earlier, only—"

"Hinata, I know that." Kageyama knelt, so he was looking up (not far) and Shouyou down, instead of the other way round. He trailed the tip of his nose along the Lamb's collarbone. "You're always so demanding."

"But this whole time," Shouyou swallowed, "you've been so good at holding back."

"Holding back?" Kageyama murmured.

Shouyou nodded. "I just kept forcing you, and—"

"You should understand," Kageyama said, voice suddenly quite sharp, "no matter what your status, you can't force me into doing something I don't want to do. I won't bow my head to a title alone, no matter how beautiful the one who holds it."

Shouyou nodded meekly, thinking, _beautiful?_

"But," Kageyama continued, softening, "I'll never, ever do anything you don't want me to, either. I didn't hold back because I don't want you. I was—I didn't _know_ if you wanted me the same way. Hinata, I—" He broke off, looking hesitant.

"I don't really know what way that is," Shouyou said quickly, "but I don't think there's a single way I _don't_ want you."

"Okay," Kageyama said, dropping his voice low. "Good. Because I want to do some very… bad things to you."

The sudden shift in Kageyama's tone—the way his eyes went half-lidded—sent a shiver up Shouyou's spine.

"You do?" he asked.

"Oh, very, very bad," Kageyama confirmed, kissing his stomach. "I don't think a night passed when I felt your little body pressed to mine without wanting to hold you down and fill you up. It would be so easy... you're _so_ small..."

Shouyou closed his eyes, his stomach feeling tight and hot. "Every night?"

"Mmm." Kageyama mouthed over his ribs. "I wanted to fuck you with my fingers and my tongue, first—please you to exhaustion, watch you pass out with my cock still in you—"

Shouyou dug his fingers into the Wolf's shoulders. "Kageyama, I will come right now if you don't stop talking."

"I wanted to try that, too," the Wolf growled. "Maybe later." He snapped his teeth at Shouyou's hip and the Lamb's knees simply folded. Kageyama caught him, eyes gleaming. "We should get in before the water gets cold."

He lowered them both into the bath together, lips finding Shouyou's immediately, and Shouyou opened his mouth so Kageyama could lick into it. He pressed his fingertips to the Wolf's face, tracing over his cheeks and eyelids like he'd wanted to do for so long, while Kageyama was aware of it. Maybe he had always been aware of it.

"Again," Shouyou murmured when they broke apart to breathe.

"Kiss?" Kageyama asked.

"No," Shouyou said, pressing hard against his hip beneath the water's surface. "Yes, but—more."

"So soon," Kageyama said, pulling him close to let the Lamb grind against him. "We're not done washing." Shouyou paused to shoot him a silent, irritated look. The other man blinked. "Let me clean you up first."

"What's the _point?"_ Shouyou huffed.

"So I can dirty you again," Kageyama told him. Shouyou's mouth dropped, which the other man seemed to take, correctly, for a yes.

It was stupid to protest, Shouyou found out, when Kageyama had ideas while they were both naked. Kageyama kept him pinned to his body with one hand, Shouyou's back to his chest. He kissed the nape of Shouyou's neck, the crook of his shoulder, as he stroked his free hand down the front of Shouyou's chest, flat over his stomach, before sliding it between his thighs and behind him, to wipe away the mess they'd made earlier. Shouyou held perfectly still in his arms, head leaned back against his shoulder, eyes unfocused as he stared up at the ceiling.

"Are you used to people doing things like this for you?" Kageyama asked, sounding innocently inquisitive, as he always did when discussing Shouyou's life at the castle.

"I can _bathe_ myself," Shouyou scoffed. "But it's _nice_ when you do it…"

"Hmm," Kageyama agreed, moving to take Shouyou's cock in his hand. "But no one does this for you," he said, pulling over the head and making Shouyou tense and moan.

"Of—of course not, idiot," he gasped. Kageyama's big hand working over him felt amazing, covering his length and stroking him firmly so he felt fully sheathed, surrounded by heat. But before he could feel as though he'd enjoyed it properly, he was being lifted out of the water, perched on the side to face Kageyama. He put out his hands to grip the other man's shoulders, disoriented. "Why—"

Kageyama slid both hands up his legs, sinking his fingers into the flesh of Shouyou's rose-red, pliant thighs, before pushing them apart, opening him wide. His eyes were heated and rapt as he stared at Shouyou splayed in front of him. Shouyou could feel himself getting even harder under his gaze.

"Yes," Shouyou said, without thinking.

"What do you want?" Kageyama asked. "Tell me."

"Put your mouth on me."

The other man looked at him and licked his lips. Shouyou sucked in a breath and closed his eyes as he leaned forward.

A hand smoothed down his leg, and then he felt the barest brush of lips, against his ankle.

He opened his eyes. Kageyama was holding his foot in one hand—carefully, fingers just grazing his skin. Shouyou's foot was tiny in his grasp. He watched as the Wolf ducked his head again, kissing the other side of his foot, then the soft skin on top, before lifting his leg slightly and pressing his lips to the arch of his sole.

Shouyou jerked, a giggle flying out of him before he could stop it. He clapped a hand over his mouth as Kageyama's gaze flicked upward, almost imperceptibly, his lips quirking into a smirk.

"No," Shouyou said. He tried to pull away, but couldn't break free of the hold the other man now had on his leg. "Kageyama—wait—"

Kageyama kissed the bottom of his foot again, short, glancing brushes of his lips against the skin and Shouyou shrieked and writhed. Worse, unbearable, a little bit wonderful, was when the Wolf darted out his tongue across the side, making tears gather at the corner of Shouyou's eyes through his laughter.

"Stop, stop!" he begged, and so the bigger man grabbed him higher up and pulled him closer, fingertips kneading his calf as he kissed up his leg, touching his lips to either side of Shouyou's knee, and higher still—head now between Shouyou's legs, tongue tracing up the inside of his thighs, biting against soft flesh, hard enough to leave teeth marks, though they faded quickly enough. He kissed Shouyou's sharp hipbones, the dip of his pelvis, with the kind of focused attention he gave everything: slow and across every inch, gripping Shouyou's hips with his hands. Shouyou shuddered under his touch. _"Don't_ stop… oh…"

He felt warm breath over his cock and then—

The feeling of being swallowed by the other man made him gasp, a little hiccup that turned to moans as Kageyama worked his mouth over the entire length of him, back and forth, lips gliding wet and hot over his shaft. He slid his hand into the Wolf's hair, raking the dark locks off his forehead and gripping tight. He couldn't stop himself from pushing the other man down further, throwing his head back and crying out, voice breaking as he forced Kageyama to take him all the way to the back of his throat.

And then the realization hit, that at any moment, the Wolf could pull out of his grasp as easily as he would a child's, could push his hands away and get off of him in annoyance at being handled. Like he'd said, Shouyou could never _force_ him to do anything he didn't want to do. But he didn't pull away. Instead, Kageyama inhaled through his nose and laved his tongue across the bottom of Shouyou's shaft, sighing in contentment. Wanting him.

Shouyou came undone.

"Oh, god," he whispered, "Kageyama." His hips jerked as he thrust upward. Kageyama made a little noise, pulling on his waist, encouraging him. " _Kageyama_ ," he whimpered again, rocking up into him, suddenly feeling the light drag of teeth on his shaft the next time he fucked into the Wolf's mouth. _"Tobio—"_

Kageyama pulled off him and Shouyou put his head up to look through watering eyes, wondering why, why he had stopped—but the other man rubbed his hands over his legs again, soothing him, laying him back against the floor and sliding him gently toward the edge of the bath. He lifted Shouyou's legs to put them over his shoulders and the Lamb stared, open-mouthed, at how perfect the Wolf looked between his thighs, how that dark gaze stayed on his own wide eyes as Kageyama leaned in to run his tongue in long, slow licks over his flushed, aching cock.

"Put your hands back where they were," the Wolf instructed him, and Shouyou did as asked. He matched Kageyama's pace, and when they moved, it was measured and deliberate—his fingers sliding into raven black strands of hair, gripping tight against the back of Kageyama's head as he found his hold again; Kageyama's hands tightening against his upper thighs in increments, fingers pressing harder, harder into the soft flesh high up on his leg; his calves shifting and gliding over the smooth warm skin of Kageyama's shoulders and back, both of them still wet from the bath.

Shouyou drew him in closer, pressed his legs and heels in and arched his back, and Kageyama looped his sturdy arms under him and used his own strength to bring Shouyou's hips off the ground, lifting the lower half of his body right into the air as he put his mouth back around him.

He gripped Shouyou's hips tight as he started to move his small body for him, slipping his cock in and out of reddening, swollen lips in long, full thrusts, diving down to press his nose against the soft patch of ginger curls there every time he pulled Shouyou into his mouth, raising up just enough to swirl his tongue over the head when he relaxed his hold to let the Lamb's hips fall back down. Shouyou clenched his hands into fists in Kageyama's silky hair and held on, all he could do as the other man ravished his body without letting him lift a finger.

It was like every other thing he'd ever experienced was being put into perspective, now that he knew what it was like to have Kageyama give in to him—to have the Wolf submit to _him._ Because he knew, he knew that was what Kageyama was doing, now that he'd finally made up his mind. He could see it in the way the other man glanced up at him through his dark eyelashes, could hear it in the small, insistent noises he made as he hollowed his cheeks, could feel it as Kageyama made certain to slide his tongue over every inch of Shouyou's cock.

"Yes—" Shouyou panted, finding speech very, very difficult, "—that feels—I wanted you, I've _wanted_ you—"

The Wolf whined low around him, a needy, throbbing sound he felt throughout the whole of his being. Shouyou knew why he was begging, could delay the inevitable no longer.

He came with a sob, bucking up hard, heat coursing through him as Kageyama's throat tightened when he swallowed him down. The other man pulled away, lapping up the last few drops from the head of his cock with his tongue, and Shouyou sat up, breathless, reaching out with shaking arms. This time, Kageyama brought him in close, and they slipped back into the water, which was cooling fast. It felt good now, against Shouyou's overheated skin.

"Well, your highness," the other man said, falsely demure. Shouyou could sense his ravenous appetite, lurking beneath the surface, now that it had been set free. "Was it to your liking?"

"I don't want to stop," Shouyou blurted at him. It was odd, how he could feel so appeased and yet still so wild. He needed so much more. "Let me have you inside me."

Kageyama shook his head. "You said you'd wait for that."

"Why should I?" Shouyou challenged him. "I can have you now, I can have you a thousand times and I'll still want you as much as I did the first."

"No," Kageyama said, in a tone of finality. "I know what I want."

"It's not that?" Shouyou asked. That couldn't be the reason.

"I want to make you mine," the other man told him. "And I want to do it the first time I come inside you."

"You could—"

"The next time I'm in you, I _will not_ stop," Kageyama growled.

This ended the argument quickly. Shouyou whined, understanding, but impatient. "What about you now, though?" he asked. "I didn't get to do anything for you."

The Wolf's answering laugh was breathless and dark. "Innocent little Lamb," he murmured into Shouyou's ear. "There are still so many other ways I can think of to savor you."

Shouyou shivered and turned to face him, lips searching for Kageyama's, so he could whisper against them: "Show me _every single one."_

*

The next morning dawned cool and grey, the mists of night time still disappearing back to where they came from as Shouyou woke. He shifted, slightly, feeling the bare skin of his legs slide between somebody else's. His arm was draped over a solid, warm chest. He shuffled closer, sleepily, still feeling utterly spent and blissfully happy.

"Good morning," he mumbled.

There was no response, and he squinted his eyes open, wondering if he had managed to wake up before Kageyama for once. But the Wolf was awake, eyes open in the dim light, staring intently at the wall.

"What are you…?"

Kageyama put a hand over his mouth and pulled him in closer. "Quiet."

Shouyou fell silent, listening. Why had he woken up so early, he wondered? It wasn't because of Kageyama, who could move so quietly that he had never once woken Shouyou while getting out of bed.

And then he heard it. The soft rustle of grass shifting under the weight of men and animals. Many men and animals.

Shouyou sat up, blood running cold. No one but him, Kageyama, and Grey had ever come near the cabin since the first night he had arrived. This could mean only one thing.

He'd been found.

"Kageyama—" he started to say, but the other man untangled himself from the blankets, pulling on a shirt and pair of pants silently. He glanced out of the window and cursed under his breath. Shouyou got out of the bed, intending to follow. "You can't—"

"Hinata, _stay here,"_ Kageyama ordered him. Shouyou sat back down, his legs ignoring his own will entirely in favor of obeying Kageyama's.

"Don't go out there," he said, furious. "Not alone."

"You wait until I have their attention," Kageyama said, like he hadn't heard, "then you run. Use the back door."

"They'll _kill_ you," Shouyou told him.

Kageyama knelt on the floor in front of him, taking Shouyou's face in his hands. "They're going to do that no matter what," he said.

"No," Shouyou begged. "No, no, _no—_ you _can't_ make me—"

Kageyama kissed him, once, hard. "Yes," he said. "I can." He whistled softly, and Grey was there, by their sides.

"Tobio—"

"You. Will. _Run,"_ Kageyama said, his voice no longer gentle. "No matter what happens, you _get out._ Follow Grey."

Shouyou wanted to ignore the words, but it was impossible. _Run,_ echoed in his mind. _You will run._ He barely registered what was happening as Kageyama shoved a shirt over his head, and forced a pair of pants onto him. The other man was speaking quietly to his wolf.

"Make sure nothing happens to him. Don't bring him back here," he said. Grey whined. _"No,_ I mean it. You can't—don't ever come back here again." He brushed a hand over her ears and leaned his head against hers. "Thank you for staying with me all this time. But you have to go now."

A booming knock on the door drew his attention, and he fell silent. Slowly, he got to his feet, glancing back at Shouyou once more. "Not a sound," he warned, before disappearing out the door.

As soon as he was out of the room, the absolute control the Wolf had over Shouyou wavered slightly. He found he could move as he wanted again and stood up stiffly, to barely poke his head over the windowsill so he could see what was happening outside. There were at least a dozen soldiers waiting, half of them on horseback. They did not wear the colors of Shouyou's kingdom.

He watched as Kageyama walked into the middle of the clearing, his hands held out in front of him. He couldn't hear anything that was said, but one of the soldiers on foot approached him, looking him up and down.

Without warning, the soldier jammed the handle of his sword into Kageyama's stomach. Shouyou gasped as he staggered before another of the men on foot kicked him in the back of the knees, sending him stumbling to the ground.

"He could fight them," Shouyou whispered. "Why isn't he fighting?" But he knew the answer; it lodged in his mind, making him feel sick. The more Kageyama struggled, the worse things would be for Shouyou afterward, the more severely the cruel Wolf-king would punish him. Kageyama was submitting, now, for Shouyou's sake.

One of the men on horseback dismounted and took off his helmet. And Shouyou tightened his fingers in Grey's coat as he felt it all coming apart around him, all the days and weeks spent hiding, his own foolish belief that somehow it would all be fine if he just went back eventually, that nothing would happen to Kageyama.

The king, Shouyou's betrothed, stalked across the clearing toward Kageyama. He would be able to smell Shouyou. No doubt he already had. And here, out in the middle of the woods with no one else around to bear witness, there was only one way things would end.

"Grey," he whispered. "We have to run."

The wolf whined low.

"Listen to me," Shouyou said urgently. "He said to get out. Out of the cabin. And I have to follow _you."_ Grey's ears perked up. "Understand?"

She growled, and he nodded. Outside the window, one of the soldiers was handing the king his sword. No time.

"Go," Shouyou ordered the wolf. "Go now!"

_Run._

Grey bolted and he chased her, out the door, down the stairs, vaulting over the back of the sofa as she cleared it in two leaps.

_Get out._

The front door was open, and through it he could see Kageyama kneeling in the dewy grass in the fog. The king had his sword to Kageyama's throat.

_Follow Grey._

None of the men were ready for the shadow that raced low over the ground through their midst, nearly invisible in the fog. Grey leaped out of the grass at the king, catching him in the chest and nearly knocking him down. One soldier drew his sword, only to be tackled at the waist by Shouyou, falling hard into the grass below. Shouyou jammed a knee into his windpipe and snatched up his blade.

A yelp drew his attention—the king had kicked Grey away and was bearing down on Kageyama again, but Shouyou intercepted him, jumping in front, sword held at the ready. He had never been the best or most talented swordsman. He did not care.

"Ah, there you are," the Wolf-king remarked. "We were beginning to get worried. Drop the sword, boy." It was a direct order.

Shouyou did not comply, though his arms started to shake.

The king stared at him. "Drop the sword," he hissed again, "or I will lock you away until you have learned to _obey me."_

Shouyou tightened his grip on the sword handle. "Then melt down the key," he spat.

"Hinata, drop it," another voice growled from behind him.

Immediately, the sword fell from Shouyou's hands and into the grass. Stunned, he turned, to see Kageyama glaring at him.

"What are you doing?" Shouyou asked, shakily. "I'm trying to save you."

"It's the other way around, idiot," Kageyama said.

Harsh hands grabbed Shouyou painfully tight from behind, yanking him around.

"You listen to _that?"_ the king scoffed. He sniffed at Shouyou, who recoiled. "You reek of that dog…" Without warning, he snatched at Shouyou's clothes, looking, Shouyou realized, for a Mark.

"Don't touch him like that," Kageyama growled. "I'm warning you."

"Oh?" the king said, and Shouyou felt fingers grasping for his waistband. He began to struggle, and the king slapped him, hard enough to stun.

With a feral snarl, Kageyama shook off the two men restraining him like they were made of paper. In seconds, he was on the king, had him down in the grass, hands tight around his throat, choking the life from him.

The other soldiers began to advance, weapons ready. Terrified, Shouyou dove on top of Kageyama, trying to pull him off. "Kageyama, no, stop it!"

Kageyama was strong, but twelve men together were stronger. They forced Shouyou off him, dragging Kageyama away from the king, who gasped for air and choked out, "Put him _down."_

"NO!" Shouyou yelled. "Don't kill him, please, I'll do anything!"

"Hinata!" Kageyama barked, but one of the soldiers kicked him in the side.

"I'll do whatever you say," Shouyou said, ignoring him to latch onto the king's arm.

The king shook him off, eyes cold. "Without question?" he asked.

"And gladly," Shouyou agreed, feeling sick.

The king considered, before saying, slowly, "Then, my _sweet_ pet—grovel at my feet for his life."

His words still held no sway or influence, but Shouyou dropped to his knees, touching his forehead to his hands in the grass. "Please let him live. Leave him alone. He had nothing to do with me. I have no Mark, I wait for you to claim me."

 _"Shouyou..."_ he heard Kageyama moan, and Shouyou grit his teeth against the ache as his heart broke in two.

The king sniffed. "Very well. I didn't see a Mark, so at least you aren't completely ruined." He motioned to one of his soldiers, and whispered something into the man's ear. Shouyou couldn't hear what was said. Louder, the king ordered his men, "Have someone bring the prince back to the castle. I'd do it myself but he stinks of mongrel. Be sure to bathe upon your return, your highness."

With that, he mounted his horse again, and rode off with his bloodhounds. One of the other soldiers hauled Shouyou onto his horse before he could say a word to Kageyama. Shouyou glanced back, but his view was blocked by the guards still restraining him. All he saw was a dark-haired head, bowed low.

 _Please,_ Shouyou thought. _Please understand._

Then they hit the treeline and he lost sight of the clearing, the cabin, and the Wolf altogether.

*

The soldiers took Shouyou back home. The castle felt foreign, too large and noisy and busy, and yet empty, all at once. The guards flanked him on either side as they walked through the halls, and though they didn't touch him, he knew what he was: a prisoner.

There were a startling number of the foreign king's men in the castle, and it made him uneasy. Something about the palace had changed since he had left. The lights seemed to shine dimmer within its walls.

They tossed him into his suite of rooms unceremoniously and locked the door. He threw himself at it, banging on it with his fists, rearing back and stomping against it, but it was blatantly hopeless. Eventually, he fell back onto the floor, defeated.

He had known this would happen, hadn't he? He was trapped. What was important was that Kageyama was safe, had been spared. The thought comforted him, just the tiniest bit.

It was the only solace he had for the next two days. He wasn't let out of his rooms for anything, no one came to see him except the guards who brought his food—fare hardly fit for a stable animal, dried bread and water and hardened cheese. He supposed this was the spiteful king's way of getting back at him. It could have been worse, he was still surrounded by luxury, but he hated it. Maybe that was the intent. His bed was too soft, and smelled like nothing but laundering. Everything seemed lonely and sterile and cold.

On the third day, there was a note with his meal.

_My gentle pet -_

Shouyou felt a stab of disgusted anger in his heart.

_The month is nearly up. Take care to rest well, for tomorrow, we will be wed._

It was signed by the Wolf-king himself.

"No, no," Shouyou whispered. And then, increasing in volume, _"Fuck…_ shit, _fuck, FUCK!"_

A quiet knock on the door made him freeze.

And then—with a prolonged creak, it swung slowly open and he scrambled to his feet, brimming with anger, ready to throw himself upon whoever dared enter. But when the figure stepped into the room, he just stared.

"Mother?"

"Oh, Shouyou," said the queen, tilting her head at him. "Is that language something you picked up from your Wolf?"

He flung himself at her, not to hurt her, but to let her embrace him.

"How do you know about him?" he asked, feeling tears threatening to spill over. He squeezed his eyes shut, willing them away.

"The king told your father and I when he arrived back at the castle." She sighed. "I was so worried, you know."

"You didn't have to be," Shouyou told her. "I was safe."

She pulled back to look at him. "It seems like you were quite a bit more than just 'safe'."

He flushed, and then nodded. "You're right. I was happy, too."

His mother cast her eyes downward. "I'm sorry, Shouyou."

"You have nothing to be sorry for," he said, though his voice was harsh. She flinched and he softened. "Nothing."

"I've tried to speak to your father. I—you know how he…" She trailed off. "He's become quite angry, at the way your intended has set his men up about the castle. I thought maybe I could persuade him because of it, but he still wants to see this through."

"If it's this bad now," Shouyou said, "can you imagine what he'll be like once he's actually part of the family?"

His mother sighed again. "Yes. I have imagined it. But there's nothing more either of us can do."

Shouyou bit his lip, considering. Was there really nothing else?

"In any case," his mother said, kissing his forehead, "I'm glad you had happiness, this past month. And…" Her lips twitched. "The common boy _is_ quite handsome."

"Yes, he…" Shouyou began to agree, but… "Hold on. How do you know what he looks like?"

The queen frowned. "They brought him in the evening of your arrival," she said. "You didn't know?"

Shouyou stared at her. "Why?" he asked. _"Why is he here?"_

"On your betrothed's orders," she said. "He wasn't… he wasn't pleased. He had conditions."

"Where is he?" Shouyou demanded. "Where's Kageyama?"

His mother shook her head. "Where else would he be? He's in the dungeons."

"For how long? They're not going to—to—"

"He's not going to be executed. But your father had to swear…"

"Swear _what?!"_ Shouyou asked desperately.

"To keep him there," his mother said.

Shouyou stared at her, stunned. "For how long?" he whispered, already knowing the answer. Because he had been sentenced to a fate all too similar.

His mother looked at him with sorrow in her eyes. "For as long as he lives."

*

The good thing, about being confined to his room with no visitors, was that there was no one to notice if Shouyou started acting strange. And there was no other word for his actions the rest of that day, as he turned his room completely upside down.

He ripped his sheets off the bed, ransacked his closets, sliced open the upholstery on the couches in order to rip them off. Any fabric, any cloth he could get his hands on, he would have to use. Once he had collected it all, he set to work—tying each end of one cloth to the next, testing each knot, until he had a very, very long rope of sorts. It was late into the evening before he finished working.

He waited until the dead of night before daring to risk his plan. He sat against his door, listening to the sounds of people bustling about in the hall outside, until eventually the noises became more infrequent, and finally stopped altogether. It was long past midnight. He got to his feet.

One end of the rope, he'd wrapped and tied around his sturdy bed frame, and had tested it to make sure there was no chance of it coming free. The other end, he tied around his waist, knotting it securely.

They hadn't locked his windows, and for that, he was grateful. He pushed them open, and the cool night air rushed in. Maybe it was just his imagination, but he almost thought he could smell the faintest hint of the forest, from where it lay over the hill. He breathed in deep.

It smelled like home. It made him fearless.

He climbed onto his windowsill, to see the ground far below, and didn't falter. Instead, he turned, facing the wall, and began to walk down it, using his rope to keep himself anchored to the surface. By meters and yards and step by step, he moved closer to the ground. The rope held his weight until he was all the way down, dropping to the cobblestones quietly.

Shouyou met no one on his way into the castle, and soon he was descending the dim, torchlit spiral stairwell that led down into the depths of the castle. A thick wooden door at the end was barred from the outside—he had to put all his weight behind it to lift the heavy bar, setting it down gingerly on the floor before opening the door to slip inside. A rung of keys hung just inside the door as it opened, and he snatched them up, triumphant. Clearly, there was nobody who cared much about this forgotten part of the palace—and certainly, no one had expected him to escape.

The dungeons of the castle were low-lit, with only a few flickering torches along the stone walls. They were seldom used—Shouyou's family had no need for them, so they stood unguarded.

Shouyou's hands began to shake. It was quiet as the grave, in that grey underground space—so different from the open, vibrant expanse of the forest. The sun would never shine there, no breeze would ever carry the scent of earth within those walls. It suffocated him. He couldn't let this happen to Kageyama.

And then, as if he'd spoken out loud, a voice responded from the darkness.

"You can't be here," it said, and Shouyou whirled his head in its direction, but couldn't see through the shadows. He grabbed a torch, walking along the rows of cells. They all stood empty, save for one. The very last in the row held a single occupant, though it was hard to see in the darkness. But there was no mistaking the voice. Shouyou bracketed the torch in the wall and curled his hands around the bars, mouth dry.

The flickering light illuminated the cell where they were keeping Kageyama. His arms were shackled, chained to the wall behind him, the angle low to force the enormous Wolf to his knees. He'd been stripped naked, and Shouyou could see bruises healing from the battering he'd taken at the cabin three days earlier, and perhaps even since then. The thought made Shouyou sick. And he was…

He was already well into his heat, shaking, sweat dripping from his body, hair plastered to his forehead. And he was visibly, painfully hard between his legs, had probably been that way for days.

"Oh, no, Tobio—no," Shouyou whispered. "They left you like this?"

At the sound of his voice, the Wolf gasped, breath rasping from his lungs. He yanked on his chains, slamming forward, and let loose a sobbing howl when he was dragged back again.

 _"Leave,"_ he snarled. "Get _away."_

"I didn't mean for this to happen," Shouyou said, knowing it was useless. It had happened, and it was his fault. "I came to get you out."

"To go where?!" Kageyama asked. "There are bloodhounds around the entire perimeter of this castle. If they smell me, I'm dead, and you might as well be."

Shouyou gripped the bars tight. Of course—no wonder there were no guards in the halls, nobody watching the dungeon. They would never have gotten farther than the castle grounds.

"Get away from me, Hinata," Kageyama told him again, eyes shut tight and teeth bared. He hadn't looked up once, like he couldn't bring himself to see Shouyou. "Go back to your room."

"I didn't know you were here," Shouyou said. "I thought you were safe. Please, please don't hate me—"

"I don't hate you!" Kageyama exploded at him. "I need you more than anything, and it's _killing me!"_

It clicked, in Shouyou's mind. Because he knew, he knew what it was like to want something so bad he felt as though he might die because of it.

With fumbling fingers, he unlocked the cell door. Kageyama's head finally lifted, his eyes wide and panicked.

"Don't come in here," he said. "Don't come near me—"

Shouyou slipped inside and closed the cell door behind himself.

"You are—an idiot—" Kageyama ground out between his teeth.

"Why? Because you're like this?" Shouyou asked, walking forward carefully. "I'm right here. Take what you need."

Kageyama lurched against his restraints again. "No, no—I can't control—"

"Then don't," Shouyou said quietly. He knelt right in front of the frenzied man, peering up into his face. Kageyama loomed over him, his pupils blown wide and black. The Wolf strained forward, chest heaving, breathing ragged, until they were a hair's breadth apart, lips nearly touching.

"I don't want to hurt you," Kageyama whispered.

"Listen to me." Shouyou raised a hand to his face, and the other man whined, trying to pull away one second, and the next pushing his cheek against Shouyou's palm, desperate for his touch. "Tomorrow is the wedding. Tomorrow night, he'll try to claim me."

Kageyama went utterly still, the shuddering of his limbs ceasing, breath sucked in and held. They must be torture for him, Shouyou knew, those few words. He sent out a silent apology, but knew this was what needed to be done, what they had to do.

"I need you to have me first," Shouyou continued. "I need you to have all of me. So he never can."

Kageyama turned his head, pressing his forehead to Shouyou's. Shouyou took the Wolf's face in his hands, thumbs brushing over his cheeks, his own body growing hot as Kageyama flexed his powerful arms and shoulders and back against the chains binding him, muscles shifting, rattling them like a warning. He could feel the Wolf's fury, his jealousy, his growing, terrible hunger.

"He never will," Kageyama vowed, voice curling out of him like black smoke. "You are _mine."_

Shouyou reached behind him and unlocked the shackles.

Kageyama hit him on all fours like an animal, wrapping arms around his waist, before rising to his feet, momentum carrying them backwards until Shouyou's back hit the bars of the cell gate with a rattling clang, the air knocked from his lungs. He wrapped his legs around Kageyama's waist as the man attacked his mouth, biting hard enough to draw blood from his bottom lip before jerking away with a harsh exhale of unnecessary apology. Shouyou buried his hands into Kageyama's mess of damp, dark hair, yanking him closer, tongue seeking and tasting and just as demanding as he shoved it into the taller man's mouth. Kageyama panted a harsh groan, lapping at his bleeding lip greedily.

Hands went for the pants around his waist and he raised his hips to help, but the next second he felt Kageyama grab, and tear, and rip the thin fabric into two pieces that were quickly discarded. Fingers, a rough thumb, rubbed against his opening, gliding through the slick wetness already pooling there, and Shouyou jerked his hips down but then they were gone.

"Please—" he started to say, but he needn't have worried. Kageyama grabbed the undersides of his thighs, sinking his fingers into Shouyou's flesh, pushing him more firmly against the gate. Shouyou wrapped his arms around the bars, holding onto them as tight as he could so he could angle himself exactly right, hips tilted up—and Kageyama entered him in one hard, unforgiving thrust, burying his dripping cock to the hilt inside Shouyou's wanting, eager body.

Shouyou's mouth fell open in a silent moan, the pain of being suddenly and violently taken apart overridden by sheer, unparalled pleasure—at finally, finally having Kageyama inside him again after so long, at choosing to submit utterly to the will of _his Wolf,_ to this man, and no other.

And Kageyama, always, could read him. "You're mine," he said again. He pulled out and Shouyou gasped, tightening his legs around the other man's waist to bring him closer. Kageyama drove inside him again, slamming him back against the bars. "Mine." He tightened his grip on Shouyou's thighs as he dragged his cock back out of Shouyou's tight, aching entrance. "Only _mine."_

Shouyou exhaled a sob as Kageyama filled him again, brutal and fast and exactly, exactly what he'd been wanting since the very first night Kageyama had made Shouyou his, in so many ways. He clung to the bars, using the leverage of his grip to raise and lower his hips, working himself up and down over Kageyama's cock, and Kageyama let out a deep and primal snarl of approval. His large hands slid up Shouyou's sweat-drenched thighs until they were gripping his ass, spreading him open, pounding into him as Shouyou rocked down to take him as deep as he could get, legs and arms beginning to shake uncontrollably.

"I—" Shouyou said, voice high and gasping. "I can't—"

Kageyama moved his hands, one flat and solid against his back, the other going to support the back of his head. He lowered them both to the ground and Shouyou's hands loosened on the gate, sliding down them as they went, until they were both on the floor, with Shouyou in Kageyama's lap. Kageyama pulled up on his shirt and Shouyou let his fingers slide free of the iron bars for the other man to rid him of all his clothes, and then they wrapped their arms around each other, limbs intertwined, naked together.

"I should have had you so many times," Kageyama breathed, pulling Shouyou's head back by his hair, gentler now, to kiss the exposed column of his throat. "I was supposed to protect you…"

Shouyou closed his eyes. "Quiet. You have me now," he said, trying to keep the burn of tears threatening to spill over out of his voice. Twice wasn't enough. It wasn't nearly enough. But he'd have this moment to hang onto for the rest of his life, even in the times when he felt most trapped and alone. Especially then. And Kageyama…

Kageyama wouldn't live to see another night, not after this. But at least he wouldn't be caged and chained like a rabid dog, unable to ever see the sun or the trees or the grass again.

It was the only thing Shouyou could do for him now.

"I'm never letting them take you away from me," Kageyama said. _"Never._ And if anyone tries—" his voice dropped to a dangerous, frightening growl, "—I'll _kill them."_

The words, the dark threat, had Shouyou humming in pleasure as he rolled his hips against the other man's, savoring the full stretch as Kageyama slid deep inside him, making his eyelids heavy with want and expectancy. "Keep me forever," he commanded. "Tobio, do it."

Kageyama pulled him in to kiss him again, rocking up into him, and the agony of knowing they would have to give up this perfect, mind-altering unity mingled with the bliss of getting it just right, one last time. Shouyou's body followed the tilt of his head, back curving into a deep arch as Kageyama swept a hand down his skin, pulling his hips in closer.

"I'm—" Shouyou moaned out, and knew he couldn't hold on any longer, though he was trying, trying, didn't want it to end. "I'm coming, I'm coming—please, Tobio, _please—"_

Kageyama dragged him upright, pulled his head to the side, and bit down hard on his shoulder, just past the sensitive hollow that met his neck. Shouyou gasped and writhed against him, as the sharp pain was blanked out by his climax, flooding through him and rendering him senseless.

He knew nothing, but that they were here, together, and now would always be. He knew only that Kageyama was with him, held him, needed him, wanted him—was his.

Kageyama was shaking beneath him, pressing his cheek to Shouyou's—gasping Shouyou's name over and over into his ear as he spilled inside of him for the first time. Then he pulled back, trembling, brushing the tip of his nose over Shouyou's jaw, before staring down at his shoulder.

Shouyou turned his head and saw it, the perfect ring of a bite mark, defiant and brazen and permanent on his skin. He turned back to Kageyama, shifting to hold him closer, to get as near to him as he could.

"Look," he said. _"Look."_

And though the Wolf had closed his eyes, Shouyou knew he could see it, the image of his mark on Shouyou burned into his memory now.

"What happens in the morning?" Kageyama asked, his voice more uncertain than Shouyou had ever heard it. Shouyou shushed him gently.

"I don't know," he said, though they both knew perfectly well. "I don't care." And that much was true. "Tonight, you're mine."

"Always, I'm yours," Kageyama said, and didn't ask any more questions when Shouyou kissed him again.

*

They were found early the next morning, lying together on the cold stone floor. The whispers woke them. Shouyou sat up, holding Kageyama in his arms as though that would shield the other man from what was coming. He could see the soldiers outside the cell pointing, gesturing at the mark on his shoulder.

The guards were ordered to separate them. They threw a rough blanket around Shouyou's shoulders. Kageyama they left naked, and marched them through the hallways like that, until they reached the throne room and were led inside.

The three monarchs awaited them, Shouyou's father and mother, and the Wolf-king. His betrothed looked livid, at which Shouyou felt a grim sense of satisfaction. His father looked fed up with the entire ordeal, as Shouyou had expected from the conversation with his mother.

But his mother, when their eyes met, gave him the briefest glimpse of a smile.

"So," the Wolf-king said. "Not only are you disobedient. But you are also licentious. A fine son you have raised, your Majesty." This last was directed at Shouyou's father, who clenched his jaw, looking quite ready to snap.

"We had a _deal,"_ Shouyou said.

"A deal I upheld." The king pointed at Kageyama. "Imprisonment. Not death."

"You _swore_ he would be left alone!" Shouyou shouted.

"And he would have been," the king said, a cold sneer upon his face. "Alone. Forever."

"You son of a—" Shouyou snarled.

"Hinata," Kageyama hushed him quietly and he fell silent.

"Yes, listen to the _woodsman,"_ the king said dismissively. "You may as well—now that both of you have broken your oaths to me, there is nothing else for it. We shall celebrate our wedding day by watching him hang."

Despite knowing it was coming, despite his earlier convictions, Shouyou's anger overcame him. He let out a scream he himself barely registered, breaking past the soldiers, charging for the king. The bigger man appeared shocked at first, but raised a hand in defense as Shouyou lunged at him, eventually managing to seize Shouyou by the throat, lifting him into the air.

"Stop!" the queen cried, at the same time Kageyama yelled, "Put him down!"

The blanket they had wrapped around Shouyou fell away from him and the Wolf-king gave a sharp and angry shout as he caught sight of the bite mark on Shouyou's shoulder. He fairly threw the Lamb from him, looking disgusted.

Shouyou looked at him, his eyes wide and burning and furious, more terrifying than any angry forest beast. He drew himself up to stand before all of them, naked and unafraid. When he spoke, his voice was deathly calm. "Did you really think that I would let _you_ leave a Mark on me?"

"You wretched, worthless—" the Wolf-king howled. "Seize them, seize them both—"

"I—think— _not!"_ thundered Shouyou's father. The entire throne room fell silent at the sound of his voice echoing off the walls as they all turned to see him finally rising from his throne. "What is it you wish to do with my son? Surely you still plan to wed, fellow king?"

A subtle reminder—Wolf or not, he and the other man were equals, and the Wolf-king was on foreign soil.

"With all due respect, your Majesty," the other man said, "Your son has violated the terms of our marriage—"

"You are not married _yet,"_ Shouyou's father said. "And if all you intend to do with a child of _my blood_ is to make it a prisoner, or worse, then I fear you never shall be."

The Wolf-king gaped at him. "What are you saying?"

"Too long, I have put up with your insolence," Shouyou's father said darkly. "This ridiculous invasion of my castle. Your soldiers parading about our lands and towns. Your petty demands to lock away some village boy—a common Wolf, I might add, who won my son's regard far more thoroughly than I imagine you ever will. Your wealth and title means nothing if you conduct yourself like some peasant come to riches—it would be nothing but an embarrassment upon us."

"You _dare—"_ the other king started to say.

"I _DARE!"_ Shouyou's father bellowed—and his roar made even the Wolf challenging him back down. "Take your soldiers. Take your brocade gifts. And, foremostly, take your proposal and your misplaced sense of pride and vacate these lands _immediately."_

A long period of stunned silence followed. Then, having no more words to say, the Wolf-king spun on his heel, gesturing for his men to follow him. In a long procession they filed out, until every last one of them was gone, the doors slamming heavily behind them.

Shouyou's father sat down heavily in his throne, looking utterly finished. Seeming to sense his son's eyes on him, he waved a hand irritably. "Will this put an end to your wanton misbehavior?"

"Father—" Shouyou started to say, but stopped. His heart pounded in his chest. Residual fear mixed with relief, and joy. He didn't think there was anything to say.

"He is right, you know," the king said wearily. "You are, summarily, worthless as a consort."

Far from feeling any anger, Shouyou struggled to keep the bubbling laughter he felt from exploding out of him. Instead he just smiled, wide and delighted. "I don't see it that way."

Someone cleared their throat behind him, and he felt a buzz of excitement all over as Kageyama stepped up beside him.

"I'd be willing to take him off your hands, your Majesty," the Wolf said, bowing low.

The king looked at him out of one squinted eye. "Boy—do you really think it wise to speak in my presence? Right _now?"_

Kageyama dropped his gaze. "No, your Majesty." He was definitely almost smiling, Shouyou noted.

"Please _leave,_ both of you," the king said through teeth grit.

Shouyou snatched up the blanket, throwing it over both of them. He paused only long enough to lock eyes with his mother, to mouth a heartfelt _thank you_ at her as she smiled with bright eyes at him _,_ before he and Kageyama fled the throne room together.

He did start laughing, as soon as they had turned the corner. "We have to go get you clothes," he said, as if he himself weren't completely bare. "You've just been standing there naked the entire time—" He broke off as Kageyama grabbed him around the waist, lifting him into the air in the empty, sunny hallway. The Wolf leaned close, pressing their foreheads together.

"Shouyou," he said. That was all. He said it like it was everything.

"You're going to be alive tomorrow," Shouyou whispered, his laughter suddenly caught in his throat. It had just hit him, now that all the adrenaline, the certainty of hopelessness, was starting to wear off.

"And you—you won't be _married,"_ Kageyama said, as though that were even better than not being executed, and Shouyou beamed.

"No," he said. "I'll be with you."

*

Nobody ever came to the cabin nestled in the woods far from the forest path, save three: a Wolf, his Lamb, and a grey shadow in the grass that was sometimes more animal than they, and sometimes less. After all, it was dangerous to venture too far into the trees. And so, they were left alone with only each other for company.

Shouyou had been almost immediately banished from the castle for a full year, as "punishment" for disobeying the king's wishes. He suspected his mother had something to do with the sentence. He knew it had been she who had been behind his father's eventual, if hard-pressed, change of heart. Shouyou thought he may never be able to thank her enough.

"Oy, Hinata," he heard Kageyama call up to the second floor, as the front door of the cabin banged. He had just arrived back from the woods. "Come help me with dinner."

Shouyou sprang off the bed where he'd been lounging with Grey and clambered down the stairs.

"You know what we should have," he said, before he'd even reached the bottom. "Do you remember those little sausages, the ones you had when…" He trailed off. Kageyama was crouched in front of the hearth, the start of a fire already flickering under the logs. There was unprepared food laid out, and normally, this would have been enough to distract Shouyou.

But today, more importantly, there was a second chair pushed up to the table to join the first, slightly smaller than the other and handcarved out of wood.

Kageyama was watching him out of the corner of his eye. "We can't both sit on the floor forever," he said, by way of explanation.

Within two seconds, he had his arms full, as Shouyou leapt on him excitedly.

"Are you planning on having a guest stay for dinner?" he asked, laughing loudly, and directly into Kageyama's ear. The other man pushed him away, scowling.

"You're about to _be_ dinner if you keep that up," he growled.

Shouyou blinked at him. "So you're saying I should, then."

Kageyama gave a small huff of laughter, letting his mouth fall to the Mark on Shouyou's shoulder where his shirt had slipped down, kissing the Lamb softly there again and again. Shouyou closed his eyes, felt the warmth of the setting sun through the cabin windows on his face, as a different kind of heat spread through him from that single point of contact, lips on his skin.

One day he would tell his mother in confidence that it might be alright to stray from the forest path, even if there was no telling what lay off it. For deep amongst the trees hid many things—some deliciously bad, some sinfully good, and some quite a bit of both. There were dangers, yes, like the cold dark, like getting lost, like having to face fear and desperate desire and many other emotions head on—and above all, learning that these things that made them a little more human were worth it in the end.

Of course, sometimes, the wolves of the woods came howling, to devour the lost lamb that had wandered into their jaws.

But maybe, Shouyou thought, just _maybe—_ those could be the best endings of all.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do it every time  
> You're killin' me now  
> And I won't be denied by you  
> [The animal inside of you](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rB6WNMbaSIY)
> 
> \--
> 
> (oh my gosh, even if you think you know what song that is, please go listen to it anyway)
> 
> This story turned into so much more than I ever thought it would. The closer I got to posting this chapter, the less I wanted to say goodbye to it. Fortunately, I don't have to :) Thanks again for indulging me 'til the last bite; I hope you will join me for seconds, be they smutty or sweet (but, most often, a generous helping of both). 
> 
> IN FACT, there is now a roleswapped version of this story: **[Thirst](http://archiveofourown.org/works/12051465/chapters/27289356)**! It has the same premise and setting, but is an entirely new story in its own right :)
> 
> Also, here's a graphic for Kageyama's [cabin](http://esselley.tumblr.com/post/145062451794/and-so-he-spent-the-night-amongst-the-wolves-in) in the clearing! Can you spot the teacups? :) And you can check out the ['Hunger' tag](http://esselley.tumblr.com/tagged/hunger) on my Tumblr for more art, ficlets, and headcanons about this story, which is far from being cleared off the table.
> 
> [[@esselley](http://esselley.tumblr.com/) on Tumblr, [@Esselle_hq](https://twitter.com/Esselle_hq) on Twitter]


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